Zucchini Crusted Pizza

For the past two weeks at school we have been cooking meat, meat, meat and more meat. Today we did eggs, finally something other than meat thank god. I could definitely go vegetarian for the next few weeks until I start craving meat again. Yesterday was our organ meat day….. let me tell you I was a bit nervous about the day. I made beef liver with caramelized onions, lamb tongue with a fingerling potato salad (yes and it still looked just like a tongue), sweetbreads with a brown butter caper sauce, and sautéed kidneys. I had to try everything I made because the chef instructors were watching all the ladies in my class to make sure we were trying it, because “How can you know how to cook it properly, if you don’t know what it is supposed to taste like.” Valid point they made, so I tried everything. Liver wasn’t bad, but of course you can top a shoe with caramelized onions and I’d probably eat it. The sweetbreads were breaded and fried up and had slightly sweet flavor and had a chickeny texture... I’d eat it again. The tongue was served cold and it was interesting to eat because I kept thinking that a tongue was touching my tongue so that had a bit of an ick factor; but if I hadn’t known it was tongue, I might mistake it for beef possibly. The kidneys were my least favorite of the bunch; they looked like quartered mushrooms, but they had a crunch almost like a grape. But glad I got organ meat day out of the way.

I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July. My friend who came to visit and I decided to venture over to the west side by the Hudson River and watch the big Macy Fireworks show. Can I say people, people, and mooooooooooore people. It was recommended to get there about 2 hours ahead of time so we set down our blanket thinking we could sit or lay down. People pushed forward till we were laying down in the middle of the mob. Before the fireworks started, we decided to pack up the blanket and stand like everyone else. But it was a spetacualr show, so I guess standing in the middle of a crowded crowd was worth it. I tried to capture a few photos, but of course it does no justice.

I have been coming home and having very light dinners after cooking all of those stick to your ribs dishes at school. I found this recipe in The Moosewood Cookbook, which is a well known vegetarian cookbook. This recipe stuck out because I love the flavor of pizza, but I didn’t want that heavy bready crust.

Zucchini-Crusted Pizza

olive oil & flour for the pan

2 cups (packed) grated zucchini (about 2 7" zucchini) SQUEEZE all the moisture out

2 eggs beaten

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup grated mozarella

1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan
1-2 finely chopped garlic cloves

¼ cup chopped basil

TOPPING SUGGESTIONS:

Any of your favorite pizza toppings. I topped the zucchini crust with a tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil.

1. Preheat oven to 400. Generously oil a 10" pie pan or 8 by 13’ baking pan.

2. Grate the zucchini and salt with about 2 tsp of salt. Let sit for 15 minutes. Put zucchini in a kitchen towel and squeeze as much liquid out.

3. Combine zucchini, eggs, flour, mozzarella, parmesan, garlic, basil and 1 TBS olive oil in a bowl & mix well.

4. Spread into the prepared pan & bake for about 35 minutes, or until golden brown. . Remove from oven.

5. Top with your favorite pizza items and bake at 400 until heated through (about 10 min.)

Wine and Cheese Night

This week has been intense week in the kitchen… this week I dealt with filleting fish, killing a lobster the hard way, learning how to quarter a duck. I think the lobster story is the best one so I’ll share that one. The live lobster that was placed on my cutting board was crawling around and I had to lift the thing back to the center of my board so I could hack it before it crawled away again. I killed the lobster wrong I know because after I chopped the tail off, the lobster tail curled into a ball and the claws kept flailing. I felt like I did a terrible magic trick because the lobster tail and torso were a good 4 inches apart and everything was still flailing wildly. Ah poor lobster. Then as I had watched the chef do during his demo, I started to quarter the lobster… but the lobster would not stay still for me. Then the sous chef walked to my table and goes “Hmm… you should cut the head off first so it dies straightaway.” Ohh oops then I proceeded to chop off the head after I tortured the poor lobster. Then I cooked it and ate it. The End.

After classes this week, I brought home leftover such as chicken, duck, and whatever we had cooked up that day. So, needless to say, I have had a lot of tacos this week with my leftover meat… but tonight my leftover supply ran out so I threw a little something together. I made a Honey, Gorgonzola and Walnut Open Faced Sandwich. This dish is mainly just about using good ingredients. I bought the Gorgonzola from a cheese shop. The nice thing about these cheese shops is that you can get a relatively small amount and I could get a ¼ pound of cheese so I didn’t have to have a big hunk of cheese hanging out in the fridge. I bought a nice mini walnut loaf of bread from a bread bakery in the city. It’s so nice to live in a big city, because anything you possibly can want is out there. This was the perfect light supper with a glass (or two) of wine. I loved the combined flavor of the strong cheese, crunchy walnuts, hearty bread, all topped with a bit of sweet honey.

Honey, Gorgonzola, and Walnut Open Faced Sandwiches

Ingredients:
-Loaf of hearty bread
-Gorgonzola Dolce cheese
-Honey
-Cayenne Spiced Candied Walnuts (recipe below)

Toast the bread on a grill or in an oven until golden. Spread some gorgonzola on the toasted bread. Drizzle a small amount of honey on top of the gorgonzola. Top with the candied walnuts.

Cayenne Spiced Candied Walnuts

Set aside a well greased piece of foil or parchment paper. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine ½ cup sugar with ¼ cup water. Add a couple sprinkles of cayenne. Let the sugar get slightly golden (may take 4-5 min), add about a cup of walnuts. Toss the walnuts in the sugar and make sure the nuts are well covered. Pour out onto the greased foil. When cool cut into pieces.

Oh and I can’t forgot about the most important recipe of them all. Granddad thought my previous hamburger recipe looked a bit too complicated so he decided to help me out and send me his own recipe (and I included his message too cause I thought it was delightful)

I am really enjoying your blog. I notice that most of your recipes are pretty fancy. My theory is that perhaps you should get recipes for simple, everyday things. Here is my recipe for hamburgers:

Good quality ground beef
Add about 20% fairly loose mashed potatoes
Add ranch dressing style mix ( just a small amount)
Make patties fairly thin-1/2 to 2/3 inch thick
Cook medium well done. Delicious!

Always put patties in toasted buns with mayonnaise, onions,
yellow mustard, tomatoes and lettuce.

Thanks Granddad! And HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO YOU! Thanks for being the BEST Granddad EVER! (And I’m sorry if I posted yet another fancy recipe, I will work on going simpler).

Goat Cheese Burgers with Spicy Roasted Red Pepper Date Sauce

This week has flown by in such a blur! Earlier this week in class we learned preservation methods (think duck confit, salt cod, pickling vegetables, gavlox, preserved lemons). On Thursday in class we spent the day on potatoes, and I learned how to make pomme frites (I had never fried French fries before!) and gratins, and various other delicious potato preparations. Needless to say, everyone was too full from class to eat dinner that night. However, the most exciting day of the week was Friday, I got to fillet fish! I had never fillets fish before, I was always too intimidated or afraid I’d screw up royally. Anyone going on a fishing trip soon??

After class there are often many fun events the school offers. On Tuesday after class there was a beer and cheese tasting (what… beer and cheese?!) But I had a blast, I got to taste six different beers (or should I say I sipped each of the beers, I’m still not a beer girl) with six different cheeses that paired well with each beer. I learned that beers are graded by their bitterness levels and alcoholic levels… I could be completely off base… but that is what I gathered from the lecture. Some beers were incredibly bitter and the taste lasted for minutes in my mouth, I’ve never experienced such a thing before. Needless to say, I dislike most mainstream beers and these beers were much nicer (and more expensive).

After class on Tuesday, there was a demonstration by a chef from Arizona that worked at the Ritz Carlton and he made two dishes for us. The first dish was raw tuna topped with watermelon pop rocks (yes, I typed that right) mixed with ancho chili powder and picked radish. The second dish was steak with a spicy chile maple glaze with a poblano sauce and fried avocado wedges on the side. They were both amazingly delicious and fun dishes to try. On Thursday, there was a hotdog eating contest along with a condiment and beverage contest. I decided to join the condiment contest at the last minute with a Spicy Red Pepper and Date Sauce (somewhat similar to the sauce 2 blogs ago). I won second place!! I had never experienced the feeling of that adrenaline rush, when you are with the other contestant with the hopes you will win… but I wasn’t disappointed that I didn’t win. My classmates and chef instructor gave me wonderful support and all congratulated me so that was a great feeling.

I haven't gotten to cook too much this week at home so I will go ahead and post my second place condiment recipe.

Spicy Red Pepper Date Sauce

10 dried dates, pitted, cut into chunks

2 roasted bell peppers (jarred roasted peppers don’t do this justice)

7 oz pickled chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

1 big clove garlic

1/4 cup honey
¼ cup water (or as much is needed to blend)
½ cup Greek yogurt (I used the Fage brand)
1/3 cups mint, minced

1 tsp. course sea salt

First, roast the red bell peppers on the gas stove until the skin is blackened (or broiled in oven till skin is blackened). Put in plastic bag for 5 minutes. Under cold water, peel the skin off the peppers. Take the seeds and stem out of the peppers. Pat dry the peppers with layers of paper towels.

In a blender or processor, combine the first 6 ingredients and blend until it makes a thick paste. Once the pepper puree is smooth add the yogurt and blend. Add the minced mint to the sauce. Add a generous sprinkle of salt. Taste to see if needs more salt.

For this recipe, this tastes great on a gourmet hotdog (this was a condiment for the hotdog contest), but hamburgers or chicken would all work equally as well. This would be a great condiment for the grilled meats this summer. For the burgers, I used lean beef and made a well in the patty and stuffed it with goat cheese (season the goat cheese!) and then covered it up with the meat. Cook or grill as normal and when you eat your burger you will have a goat cheese suprise in the middle!

Pasta with Peas, Sausage, and Mint

Today I made five different stocks in class today, which included veal stock, beef stock, fish fumet stock, chicken stock and vegetable stock. Today was 90 degrees in New York which made for a very hot kitchen with all the pots and pans simmering away. Imagine that! But I am learning so much each day and that’s all that matters.

My school has library with several cookbooks so I will often go there after class and look up fun recipes to try at home. I only have 6 months at the French Culinary Institute so I might as well milk it while I can. I have copied some recipes I want to try out of the cookbooks (Beats buying a cookbook). Anytime I see a recipe with mint, it excites me because I have a mint plant growing on my balcony. I guess I will have to cook many more recipes with mint, but that's okay because I LOVE fresh mint. I only have a mint and basil plant, but I feel like such a gardener because I water it first thing every morning and have already had to use my tweezers (the same ones I use to tweeze my eyebrows mind you) to pick off these worms that were eating my mint leaves. I was happy to kill those buggers with my tweezers. I’m going to tell you about the very first recipe I got to try, it’s very light and refreshing, which is perfect for this summer heat. This is so delicious, peas and mint make such a great combination!

Pasta with Peas, Sausage, and Mint

-1 TB olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
-1 garlic clove, minced
-4 cups frozen green peas
-zest and juice of a lemon
-3/4 cup chicken stock
-1 cup chopped fresh mint
-1 pound linguine (I used whole wheat pasta)
-1 cup very thinly sliced chicken sausage (I used the roasted garlic flavored chicken sausage)
-1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until softened about 3-4 minutes. Add 3 cups of peas to the mixture. Zest the lemon and add the zest and lemon juice to the mixture. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Add the chicken stock to the pea mixture. Transfer the mixture to a blender and puree (add a bit more chicken stock if needed). Add the mint and puree. Return the puree to the saucepan and keep warm over low hear. Add the remaining 1 cup of peas.

Add the pasta and cook until al dente. In a separate saucepan, sauté the sausage until golden brown. Mix together the pasta, sausage, and sauce in a large serving bowl. Top with the cheese. Bon apetit!

Here is a pic I snapped of my roomie serving herself!

Chipotle and Date Chutney

I have been so badly neglecting my blog; it has been on my to-do list for the past week. I have been in the city for a little over a week now and this is the first morning I haven’t left my apartment before 10 am to go explore. Today I am making myself do everything on my to-do list, including putting sheets on my bed. Bad, I know, but the city is calling my name and there is so much to see!

I am in food heaven; the grocery stores here offer such an abundance of produce at such a GREAT price. I expected everything to be marked up ridiculously high, but cooking here is cheaper than cooking back home I say. My area is predominantly Greek and Italian, so there is no shortage of beautiful cheeses or olives. On the way home, I’ll often stop by the wine shop and pick up a bottle of wine, or stop at the European market and get some cheese. Walking everywhere is a great way to see the whole city, and an even better way to get distracted from your final destination.

I have primarily been making tons of brown rice and throwing it together with veggies and a dressing so I can picnic it at the park. I love eating outside by Central Park or the Union Square enjoying the outdoors (if it’s nice, NY has such wacky weather). I bought a beautiful cookbook the other day at a discount book store, and I’ve been obsessed with it. The first thing I made in it was the Chipotle and Date Chutney, and it’s DELICIOUS! It is spicy, a bit sweet, smoky and wonderful!

Chipotle and Date Chutney

10 dried dates, pitted, cut into chunks
4 plum tomatoes, seeded, with the juice squeezed from them
7 oz pickled chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp. course sea salt

In a blender or processor, combine all the ingredients and blend until it makes a thick paste. Pour into a saucepan, and cook over medium-low for about 5 minutes, adding ¼ cup water halfway through and stirring. Cool and then store in the fridge.

This is a very versatile sauce and I have been adding this to my eggs for breakfast, spooning over my “picnic” rice dishes, and I’ve used this to baste chicken. This sits in my fridge and just a bit adds a good amount of spice to my dishes, but it’s well balanced out with the sweetness of the dates and honey, so it’s not straight up unbearable heat.

I will keep you posted on my adventures in NYC and culinary school!

Brownies I've been craving my whole life

These are the “work of the devil” according to my roommate. Needless to say, these are absolutely sinful with chocolate, peanut butter, more chocolate, tons of marshmallows, and the rice krispy treats add a wonderful crunch. One of my friends said “Omg! This is what I’ve been craving my whole life!” so I call these Brownies I've been craving my whole life. I made these and cut them into giant size hunk of pieces and gave them as gifts.

Here is the recipe: http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2009/10/05/marshmallow-crunch-brownie-bars/


I used to dream of owning a bakery and just having brownies everywhere. How fun would that be to have as a job? If only life were that simple! I’ve been on a brownie kick lately. Last week I made chocolate brownies with dates and today I made bacon chocolate brownies…. EWW some people might say… but chocolate and bacon is now such a hot combination in the food world… we shall see how that one goes and I’ll keep you posted on my brownie endeavors.

Chicken Taco Soup

One day, my mom convinced me to enter in a cream cheese cooking contest. At first, I was like nahh because I rarely ever cook with cream cheese. But as the day went on I thought about my favorite recipes and how cream cheese could be incorporated…. So I gave in and entered the cooking competition. The winner wins $25,000, so there are bajillion competitors. I know my chances of winning are super low but the, “You can’t win anything unless you try” quote from my mama made sense. So what the heck. I am trying. This recipe is for my main entrée submission. This is mighty delicious, and I encourage you all to try this.

Mexican Chicken Taco Soup

-1 onion (chopped)
-1 bell pepper (chopped)
-4 tomatillos (chopped)
-2 cloves garlic (minced)
-1 packet taco seasoning mix
-1 cup salsa
-1 can pinto beans
-1 can hominy
-16 oz frozen corn
-3 cans chicken broth
-4 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (chopped)
-1 6 oz can tomato paste
-Rotisserie chicken (shredded)
-4 oz cream cheese (can be low fat if you want to!)
-cilantro
-shredded Mexican style cheese

Sautee the onion, bell pepper, and tomatillos in a large pan for about 5 minutes until softened over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook for a minute. Add the taco seasoning mix, salsa, beans, hominy, corn, chicken broth, chipotle chilies, and tomato paste into the pot. Cook until everything is heated up (about 10 minutes). Add the shredded chicken. Add the 4 oz of cream cheese. Top the soup with cilantro and shredded cheese.

I had a cream cheese dinner party last week so I could test out my cream cheese skills and I made an entrée, side dish, and dessert all using cream cheese. My test testers approved this recipe so I’m sharing it with you guys. This can be served with margaritas and corn bread and this is so easy and my friends still remember this dinner to this day and ask when I will make this for them again. Remember, Cinco de Mayo is coming up!