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Jibarito Sandwich Recipe with Flank Steak and Aioli

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Jibarito Sandwich Recipe with Flank Steak and Aioli

Dude I’m not even kidding, I may like jibarito sandwiches more than I like burgers.. And I work with a burger chain here in Chicago.  I mean dude they are just so flippin good.  I’ve always said when things are in their simplest forms they are at their most delicious!  I mean it’s essentially a burger but with fried plantains instead of a bun and flank steak, or any other steak even burger meat if you want it, instead of an actual burger patty.  That’s it!  For some reason though when all of the flavors are married together it’s like an explosion of deliciousness.  I will say this however, because of the plantains this thing does take a minute to prep up but don’t let that hold you back because jibaritos, are the new burgers!

Whenever I cook anything I am always about prepping first before anything.  There is nothing worse than having to stop and cut or prep something in the middle of cooking because I forgot about it.  After years of culinary training and practice I don’t do that too often anymore but it does happen on occasion.  The first thing to do is prep up the flank steak for this jibarito sandwich recipe and it’s super easy.  Now when it comes to marinades I always say try and let it sit in the fridge overnight before cooking it so if you can do that with this recipe than I highly recommend you do so.  If you can’t no problem just marinate it at the beginning of prepping up this recipe, so it’ll sit for about an hour and a half.  The flavors are salty with a tad bit of spicy acid, but don’t worry it is very light on the heat.  Whisk together some adobo sauce from chipotles, oil (whichever one you prefer), salt, lime juice and sugar.  The lime juice and sugar are there to offset the spice from the chipotle but again the heat is very mild so if you do like spicy, load this thing up with more adobo sauce or chipotles.  Add the marinade to a plastic bag and add in the flank steak and move it around so that the marinade covers the steak completely and pop it in the fridge until It’s time to cook it or overnight!

The next thing in our prep repertoire is the garlic aioli and the veggies that will go on our jibarito sandwich.  The aioli for this sandwich is a basic aioli consisting of mayonnaise, salt, lemon juice and finely minced garlic, that’s it.  You could add pepper if you want and if you do want to get super fancy faced go ahead and make a homemade mayonnaise, that would be very extra gangster of you should you do that!  The other toppings for the jibarito are your basic burger stuff consisting of sliced tomatoes, green leaf lettuce and thinly sliced onions.  You can completely change this up by using roasted tomatoes, heirlooms, iceberg lettuce, red leaf lettuce, sweet onions, I don’t care on this part you pick!

The final and longest part of the prep is the plantains.  Now, this is not a hard procedure at all but like I said it will take some time, probably around 30 minutes or so, but once you’re prepped you will fly through making these delicious jibarito sandwiches!  Find yourself some nice ripe green plantains, no they are not bananas, and then peel them.  Be gentle peeping them because you want to make sure they keep their shape.  Cut them in thirds and then slice them in half.  It’s hard to imagine at this point but these will act as your buns.  Fry these sliced up plantains in some oil that’s about 350° to 375° for 3 to 4 minutes per side.  You won’t be able to tell if they are done just by constantly checking, just trust me on the temperature and time!  Next, you need to smash these fellas and if you’ve got a tortilla maker then you’re in business because all you need to do is add’em in there and smash’em up!  If not no problem, just use the backside of a pan.  Don’t worry, these aren’t going to look awesome, they may be a bit hideous and that’s just a part of it.  Now refry the flattened plantains for about 2 minutes just to crisp them up a bit more and then it’s time to sear up the flank steak!  I like medium-rare flank steak because I think it’s more tender that way so pan sear it up and slice it on a bias and against the grain very thin so that it’s the most tender piece of meat ever!  Plate up time!  Fried plantain, aioli, American cheese, lettuce, sliced cooked flank steak, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, aioli and top fried plantain.  ENJOY!

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Jibarito Sandwich Recipe with Flank Steak and Aioli
Author: 
Recipe type: main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 12
 
There is a place here in Chicago right down the street from me called Snix Snax that makes the most insane jibaritos of all time. In Chicago it's disputed who came up with it, Puerto Rico or Cuba, but either way this Jibarito Sandwich Recipe with Flank Steak and Aioli is absolutely delicious!
Ingredients
For the Flank Steak:
  • ¼ cup of adobo sauce
  • ½ cup of canola oil
  • 1 ½ teaspoons of sea salt
  • juice of ½ lime
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • 1 ½ pound flank steak
For the sandwich:
  • 1 cup of mayonnaise
  • 1 teaspoon of sea salt
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • 1 large finely minced clove of garlic
  • 4 peeled plantains, cut into thirds then sliced in half longways
  • 12 slices of American cheese
  • 3 thinly sliced vine ripe tomatoes
  • 12 leaves of green leaf lettuce
  • thinly sliced red onions
Instructions
  1. Flank Steak: Combine the adobo sauce, oil, salt, lime juice and sugar into a bowl and whisk together and transfer to a plastic bag along with the flank steak. Move the ingredients around so the steak is covered and marinate while prepping the other ingredients or overnight.
  2. Aioli: In a small bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, salt, lemon juice and garlic until combined and refrigerate until ready to serve.
  3. Add some about 1 ½ cups of oil to a 10” cast iron skillet and heat until it reaches about 350° to 375° and add in ½ of the plantains and cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side. Place them on a sheet tray lined with paper towels to let drain and cool for few seconds before mashing with the back of a pan or a tortilla shell maker.
  4. Place the smashed plantains back into the fryer and cook for 2 minutes or just until crispy. Set aside and repeat with the other ½ of the plantains.
  5. Once everything is prepped up add the flank steak to a very large sauté pan over medium-high heat and cook until a medium-rare internal temperature is achieved, about 7 minutes per side.
  6. Set aside to rest for 2 minutes and then slice very thin on a bias and against the grain. Keep warm.
  7. To Plate: Later up a fried plantain, American cheese, aioli, sliced flank steak, tomatoes, onions, aioli and fried plantain.

 

Baja Fish Taco Recipe with Mango Salsa and Queso Fresco

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Baja Fish Taco Recipe with Mango Salsa and Queso Fresco

As a family we make tacos fairly often, whether its chicken tacos or halibut baja fish tacos, we LOVE TACOS in this house!  Tacos are easy to make, they’re usually really quick and area always delicious.  Not only do we love the main protein in tacos but man do we love to accessorize each taco with toppings.  Sour cream, queso fresco, salsa verde, mango salsa, avocado, tomatoes, jalapeños, you name it and we are putting it all over our tacos.  Not all the time, but occasionally I make homemade tortillas and every time I make and eat the I always have to yell at myself for not doing it more often because it is super easy!

Bobs red mill masa harina is superbly ground to create a smooth crisp tortilla shell that is ridiculously flavorful.  Believe it or not making homemade tortillas is easier then you thought with a simple combination of masa, water and salt.  Masa harina literally translates from Spanish to English as dough flour and is made from dried treated corn that is finely ground.  You want to combine all of these ingredients and until they are completely mixed in.  It will literally become a dough, and like a dough you may need more flour or more water to get it where it needs to be.  Once mixed, it’s then time to roll out into individual masa balls about the size of golf balls that will then be mashed with a cast iron tortilla shell maker.  If you don’t have a tortilla shell maker, you can still achieve the end result by putting a plastic bag on a countertop and then placing the masa ball on top with another plastic bag over that and then mashing it down with a frying pan or cast-iron skillet.  You’ll simply want to press down as hard as you can so that you can get it to the consistency of a tortilla shell.

Once the tortilla shell is made you then want to cook them quickly just until the flour is cooked.  This process only takes about 1 to 2 minutes totally, but you can absolutely leave them on a little longer to achieve those darker marks that you see on tortilla shells in the grocery store.  Place the cooked tortillas in a towel or in a tortilla warmer and keep them there until its time to eat!

I love salsas, especially mango salsa when making fish tacos.  It cuts the fish so well and it’s such a layer of complexity in the flavor department that is absolutely perfect!  It’s all about balance, so you get the nice sweetness from the mangos countered by the spicy seared fish.  Whenever I cook it’s important for me to always strive to achieve flavor balance.  You want things to hit all of your taste senses, bitter, sweet, sour, umami, and spicy.  When you can get that beautiful combo in every bite then you’ve won!  The cool thing about this fish taco recipe is you don’t have to make a mango salsa if you don’t want to.  Maybe you don’t like mangos, or you don’t like jalapeños, but you like pineapples and poblano peppers.  You can absolutely swap ingredients out to make this recipe exactly how you want it.

Back in the day, about 20 years ago or so, whenever I made baja fish tacos I usually used tilapia.  Well fast forward to present day and I wouldn’t touch a piece of tilapia with a 10-foot pole.  They are 100% farm raised which means they are stuck in some small pool unable to grow and swimming around in you know what eating you know what.  Yeah, that can’t be good for you.  Since then I usually use salmon, snapper, cod, mahi mahi, or halibut like I did in this fish tacos recipe.  It’s important to know what you are putting in your body and if you are eating bad good food you are going to feel the effects.  Garbage in, garbage out.  One of my friends used to say either spend the money now on good food or spend it later on health bill in the hospital.  I can always trust Bob’s Red Mill, that’s why I’ve been using them for years!

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Baja Fish Taco Recipe with Mango Salsa and Queso Fresco
Author: 
Recipe type: main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 12
 
Try this Baja Fish Taco Recipe with Mango Salsa and Queso Fresco that are rubbed down with herbs and spices. From shredded cabbage to a mango salsa recipe, these fresh halibut fish tacos are absolutely delicious and are always a crowd pleaser. Try them out in your house today!
Ingredients
For the Tortillas:
  • 4 cups of masa flour
  • 2 ½ cups of warm water
  • 1 teaspoon of Kosher salt
For the Salsa and Toppings:
  • 2 mangoes, peeled, cored and medium diced
  • ½ peeled and small diced red onion
  • 1 seeded and small diced red bell pepper
  • 1 jalapeño, seeded and small diced
  • 3 tablespoon of fresh cilantro, chopped
  • juice of 1 Lime
  • ½ each thinly sliced red and green cabbage
  • queso fresco
  • sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
For the Fish:
  • 1 teaspoon of dry oregano
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 tablespoons onion powder
  • 1 tablespoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon of sea salt
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 ½ pounds of skinned fresh halibut
Instructions
  1. Tortillas: Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix until completely combined. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes.
  2. Next, make golf ball sized dough balls and press them using a tortilla press.
  3. Cook the tortillas in a non-stick skillet over medium heat until they become lightly browned around the edges. Keep warm. Note: you will have some leftover.
  4. Salsa: Combine the mangos, red onions, bell pepper, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper in a bowl and keep cool.
  5. Fish: In a bowl mix together all of the herbs and spices and coat the fish on both sides with it.
  6. Sear the fish on a hot griddle or large frying pan over medium to medium-high heat until it is browned on both sides and cooked through out, about 10 minutes.
  7. To Plate: Place some fish into a warmed tortilla and top off with sliced cabbages, mango salsa and queso fresco.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bob’s Red Mill. The opinions and text are all mine.

Tuna Poke Tostada Recipe with Chili Garlic Mayonnaise

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Tuna Poke Tostada Recipe with Chili Garlic Mayonnaise

Oh my gosh am I happy to finally report to you that we’ve got some decent weather!  It’s been in the 60’s for the last few days and everyone and their mom is outside soaking in the warmth after an always way too long winter up here in Chicago.  I won’t lie, I hung outside all afternoon after making this Tuna Poke Tostada Recipe with Chili Garlic Mayonnaise and literally went to town!  Tuna Poke is a traditional Hawaiian dish served up in a bowl with sushi rice and a few other goodies.  The tuna is quickly marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar and then served up!  It’s so good just eaten like this with tortilla chips… Wait a minute!  Why not put it on a tortilla chip like a tostada and load it up with everything else that would normally go in a tuna poke bowl?  So, I did!

Whenever I get into the kitchen for the day, the first thing I do is prep up everything so that the cooking process is seamless.  The French have a term for this called, “mice en place,” which means everything in its place.  Everything is exactly how it should be, where it should be, when you need it, got it?  So, to start off any recipe that uses fresh produce I always head over to my Franke farm house sink and roll out my Franke roller mat and rinse off my veggies.  The Franke roller mat makes for the perfect colander when you have large vegetables that need to be cleaned on all sides, like radishes.  Not only is it amazing for rinsing vegetables but it also serves as a rack for drying dishes and a hot pad for your smoking hot pans that come off the cook top or oven.  We seriously use it every single time we are in the kitchen, no joke.

Once all of your produce is cleaned and dried it’s then time to prep up.  The only knife cuts for this tuna poke bowl consist of either slicing or medium dicing.  No, nothing has to be perfectly cut but if you are looking to master your knife cuts then this a great recipe to practice on.  When I was in culinary school we would literally have knife cut skill tests to make sure they were the perfect size and shape.  It was actually pretty easy as I’ve always had pretty good knife cuts.   My culinary basics partner really struggled in this area so when I was finished and had extra, I would scrape them off of my cutting board on to his to help him out…  Not sure if he ever used the ones I gave him but oh well.  There are also ways to interchange this recipe with different ingredients.  For example, you can exchange pineapple for mango, or papaya, or you can add on things like diced red onion or tobiko, which is flying fish caviar.  Seriously this tuna poke tostada can go in as many directions as you’d like It to.

When it comes to make the actual tuna poke itself, it’s of the upmost importance to use sashimi grade tuna.  Sashimi means that it is of the highest quality and freshness so that it can be safely consumed raw.  Let me let you in something I learned long ago.  If something smells like fish, then don’t eat it.  When I inhaled this tuna, I smelled absolutely nothing.  If anything, seafood should have a slightly sweet scent to it, but it should never be fishy.  Now I can go overboard about stuff like this because of my background but in the end, fish should smell good not bad.  So once your fish is medium diced, toss it around in some soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, fresh grated ginger, lime juice and scallions and let marinated for about 5 minutes.  You aren’t looking to marinate overnight, you are looking to quickly infuse flavor so don’t try to let this sit for a few days before eating it!  Marinated it quickly and then plate it up!

I served the tuna poke on a home fried tortilla shell along with all of the diced veggies and fruit and then finished off with an incredibly easy to make and delicious chili-garlic mayonnaise.  Finish it off with some mice greens if you’d like and you are good to go!  Impress your guests with this beauty!

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Tuna Poke Tostada Recipe with Chili Garlic Mayonnaise
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8
 
If you are looking to impress some guests this spring and summer then be sure to give this easy to make and delicious Tuna Poke Tostada Recipe with Chili Garlic Mayonnaise, cucumbers, pineapple, avocados, sliced radishes and micro greens a try as it is sure to be a fan favorite!
Ingredients
For the Tuna:
  • 1 ½ pounds of sashimi grade tuna
  • 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon of finely grated fresh ginger
  • ⅓ cup of thinly sliced green onions
For the Mayonnaise:
  • 1 cup of mayonnaise
  • ¼ cup of chili-garlic paste
For the Vegetables:
  • 1 seeded and medium diced cucumber
  • 1 cup of medium diced pineapple
  • 3 thinly sliced radishes
  • 1 peeled, seeded and medium diced avocado
  • micro greens for garnish
  • 8 fried corn tortilla shells
Instructions
  1. Tuna: Add all of the ingredients to a bowl and mix until combine and refrigerate until ready to use. Eat within 12 hours of making this.
  2. Mayonnaise: Whisk together both ingredients in a bowl until combined and chill until ready to use.
  3. To Plate: Place the tuna on a fried corn tortilla shell and top off with diced cucumber, pineapple, avocado, sliced radish, chili-garlic mayonnaise, and micro greens.
  4. Serve!

 

Fresh Homemade Pasta Recipe with Asparagus and Prosciutto Ham

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Fresh Homemade Pasta Recipe with Asparagus and Prosciutto Ham

I’ve said it so many times and I’ll say it again, there is nothing like fresh homemade pasta, nothing.  I’ve made a ton of homemade pasta over the past few years, but it hasn’t come without tons of heartache.  I’ve actually jacked up quite a few pasta dough recipes before I could finally get it right.  I know, my Italian ancestors would be rolling over in the graves but none-the-less I think I’ve got it right now.  Go ahead and throw away any pasta recipe you’ve used in the past, because I can tell you right now every single time you’ve made it it’s been different.  There is no way the eggs you used were the same size that you used in the recipe before.  No way on earth you used the exact amount of water because pasta dough may not need as much or as little due to the size of the eggs.  What I’m getting at is no pasta dough recipes are the same because the elements are never the same.

Just like any good recipe, it all starts with really high-quality ingredients. Bob’s Red Mill makes a ton of wonderful products, but I’d say 1 of the items we use most is the Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Flour.  It’s just so incredibly versatile to handle just about all of my baking needs.  It has enough protein in it to make fantastic breads and pizza crusts and is delicate enough to make beautiful cakes and pie crusts.  It’s also perfect for making this fresh homemade pasta recipe, but the technique of making it is equally as important.

The process of assembling the dough is really easy.  First start by pouring your flour out onto a clean surface and use the back of your hand to make a well in the flour.  Next crack in a few eggs and begin to whisk.  For an extremely general recipe you are looking at 2 large eggs to every 1 ½ cups of flour, but don’t take that to the bank until we know what you need when the kneading starts.  I like to whisk the eggs with the fork and once they are “scrambled” so to speak, then you want to slowly add the flour into the mixture using your fork.  Once the dough begins to come a bit thicker I usually switch over to a bench knife at this point, so I can scrape everything off of the surface to incorporate it into my pasta dough recipe.  Now is when your recipe may or may not need some tweaking.  If the dough is way too dry, and you’ll know because it won’t come together at all, then you need to add in a little water to help bring things together.  I can’t even give you the amount of water, but I would start with a tablespoon and work from there.  You want your homemade pasta dough to be like a firm pie crust dough.  Outside of the ingredients this next step is probably the most crucial.  Knead the dough for at least 7 minutes and when I mean knead I mean knead, so don’t stop for one second.  Yes, your arms and shoulders will be tired, but this is probably the single most important step into making a successful pasta dough recipe.  After the 7 minutes or so are up, knead it for another 2 minutes just to make sure.  I actually set a timer to ensure I am doing it for the full allotted time.

Once your dough is kneaded, wrap it in plastic or put it in a plastic baggie and let it rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes so that the gluten can begin to form which will help when you need to roll it out and stretch it.  After the dough is done resting, remove it from the plastic bag and divide it into 3 equal parts and begin rolling it.  Press one of the dough pieces down to flatten it out and dust each side with flour and using a pasta crank roll it out on the widest setting and run it through 3 to 4 more times before closing the setting in by 1 dial.  I usually get to about the 5 or 6 setting on the dial before it feels good enough to run through to make the actual pasta noodles.  Here is another crucial thing I figured out and it’s to NOT fold the dough after sending it through the pasta crank.  THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO DO IT, NONE!!  I’ve had more issues with folding the dough over than probably any other issue, so keep it flat and keep sending it through.

Last but not least you want to let the pasta dough dry out for about 10 minutes before cutting the sheets of pasta down to about 12 inches, sprinkling on some flour and then cranking it through your desired noodle selection.  I use linguine often because it’s so versatile and for me it’s the perfect size to any pasta recipe.  Once your pasta has run through you can either hang it on a rack or sprinkle on lots of flour and form it into a loose round shaped ball on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper.  Let the pasta dry for about 10-20 minutes before boiling it.

I serve up this homemade pasta recipe with some fresh asparagus, mushrooms, prosciutto, lemon, ricotta, parmesan and burrata because why not?  This thing is cheesy and so delicious, and even better yet incredibly easy to make.

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Fresh Homemade Pasta Recipe with Asparagus and Prosciutto Ham
Author: 
Recipe type: main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
There is absolutely nothing like homemade pasta. The flavor is so rich and so delicious that you'll never want to eat store made pasta again. This Fresh Homemade Pasta Recipe with Asparagus and Prosciutto Ham has the perfect combo of flavors and right in season as the weather starts to warm up!
Ingredients
For the Pasta:
  • 3 cups of Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Flour
  • 4 eggs
  • cold water as needed
For the Toppings:
  • 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup each sliced shiitake and portabella mushrooms
  • 1 tablespoon of finely mince garlic
  • 12-15 trimmed and sliced fresh asparagus stalks
  • ¾ cup of whole milk ricotta cheese
  • ½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese + more for garnish
  • 1 ball of burrata cheese, cut into wedges
  • 6 slices of prosciutto ham
  • zest of ½ lemon
  • parsley leaves for garnish
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Linguine: Add the flour to a clean surface and make a well. Add the eggs to center of a well and whisk using a fork.
  2. Gradually bring in flour from the outside until it is combined. Use a bench knife to scrape together all of the ingredients and knead for at least 7 minutes. You may need to add a bit of water if the dough is too dry.
  3. Once the dough is kneaded form it into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.
  4. Next, divide the dough into 3 sections and roll out each piece using a pasta roller with hand crank on the lowest setting. Next, turn the setting higher and roll the dough. Repeat until you get to #6 setting and roll it again. The dough should be a long thin sheet. Set aside on a floured surface and repeat with the other 2 dough balls. Cut the dough sheets into 10"-12" sections.
  5. Add the linguine attachment, sprinkle the dough again with flour and roll out each 10"-12" cut sheets of dough and form into little pasta balls on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Rest for at least 10 minutes so that pasta can dry out a bit.
  6. Pasta: Add the olive oil to a large saute pan over medium-high heat and cook the mushroom until they are caramelized. Once brown, about 3 to 4 minutes add in the garlic and mix in.
  7. Turn the heat to low and add in the asparagus and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the heat off.
  8. Add ½ of the pasta to a large pot of boiling salted water and cook until al dente, about 2 to 3 minutes.
  9. Transfer the pasta to the saute pan with veggies and toss in ricotta cheese, parmesan, salt and pepper and mix until combined.
  10. Add the tossed pasta to a plate and garnish with prosciutto ham, sliced burrata, parmesan cheese, lemon zest and parsley.
  11. Serve.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bob’s Red Mill. The opinions and text are all mine.

 

Loaded Cowboy Queso Dip Recipe with Pinto Beans

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Loaded Cowboy Queso Dip Recipe with Pinto Beans

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of BUSH’S® Beans. The opinions and text are all mine.

I was just saying to my wife the other day that the opening weekend of March Madness may be the greatest weekend of the year.  While I love Christmas, Easter and the Big Game, I have to admit that this first weekend is so incredibly fun because it’s not just a 1-day thing.  Nope, it’s an amazing tournament that lasts about 3 weeks and the first weekend combines to showcase 48 games.  I mean if you are a college sports fan then there is nothing greater!  With all of these games comes a whole lot of hanging with friends and of course food, so I decided to whip up my Loaded Cowboy Queso Dip Recipe with Pinto Beans that has always been a fan favorite!

One of the things that I love about this dip is it is really easy to prepare, and it is loaded with flavor.  It’s definitely one of those recipes where it’s beyond impossible to eat just 1 bite.  If you notice in the video, I prepare it in a cast iron skillet, however if you’re crazy busy setting up for these weekends packed with games then you can absolutely cook and hold this Loaded Cowboy Queso Dip Recipe with Pinto Beans in your slow cooker.  In addition, if you want to simplify this recipe even more because you are super strapped for time you can replace the fresh salsa that I made with a store bought one, totally up to you!

Cowboy queso is different than your typical queso dip recipe because it’s packed with meat and beans.  I loaded up this cowboy queso dip recipe with crisp cooked bacon, spicy chorizo sausage and ground beef, so yeah it’s filled with meat!  For the beans, I used BUSH’S® Pinto Beans because of the incredible flavor they offer up as well as their perfect pairing with things like bacon and chorizo.  “Pinto” is the Spanish word for “painted,” which perfectly describes these speckled beans (well, they’re speckled before they’re cooked). Although they originated in Peru, they’re now the most common bean in the United States. Of course, BUSH’S® chooses only the very best of them: plump, firm and beautifully speckled. Enjoy their hearty flavor in Southwestern cuisine, chili, soups, salads, Mexican-inspired dishes and more. Try them in Reduced Sodium and Organic!  When you use BUSH’S Pinto Beans you are packing up this cowboy queso dip with even more protein.  SCORE!

Once you’ve cooked all of your protein you then want to add in your cheese and cook it over low heat until it’s melted, or if you are using a slow cooker simply set it to low.  I used an orange prepared pasteurized cheese product but if you want to turn this dip into a white queso dip then you can actually use a big chunk of white American cheese!  The flavor differences are subtle; however it will be a nice bright white dip loaded with delicious colorful veggies.

I’m a college sports nut so while I love this time of year, I also get a little bit sad knowing it’s coming to an end.  I know, I’m one of those crazed fans, but I can’t think of too many events where you can get together with friends and family and eat delicious food and have a great time.  Hope you dig this Loaded Cowboy Queso Dip Recipe with Pinto Beans.


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Loaded Cowboy Queso Dip Recipe with Pinto Beans
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 12
 
Whether your at a small family or friend get together or you're just looking for something to munch on during a movie or a game, this Loaded Cowboy Queso Dip Recipe with Pinto Beans is ridiculously delicious! This cowboy queso is packed with ground beef, chorizo, bacon, homemade salsa, and pinto beans!
Ingredients
  • 8 slices of roughly chopped bacon
  • ½ pound of loose chorizo sausage
  • ½ pound of ground beef
  • 1 pound of prepared pasteurized cheese product
  • ½ pound of cream cheese
  • ½ pound of shredded white cheddar
  • 1 cup of diced tomatoes
  • 1 15-ounce can of BUSH'S® Pinto Beans, drained and rinsed
  • ½ peeled and small diced red onion
  • ½ cup of sliced green onions
  • 1 seeded and small diced jalapeño
  • ¼ cup of chopped cilantro
  • tortilla chips for serving
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
  2. Add the bacon to a 12" cast iron skillet over medium heat and cook until crispy.
  3. Once cooked set the bacon aside and cook the chorizo sausage in the bacon fat until it is cooked throughout.
  4. Next, add in the beef to the pan with the chorizo and cook it until it is cooked through.
  5. Add in all of the cheeses and mix over low heat until melted.
  6. Pour in the tomatoes, beans, red onion, green onions, jalapeño and cilantro and mix until combined.
  7. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 10 minutes or until hot and slightly browned on top.

 

Roasted Rack of Lamb Recipe with Herb Bread Crumbs and Dominos Potatoes

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Roasted Rack of Lamb Recipe with Herb Bread Crumbs and Dominos Potatoes

This Roasted Rack of Lamb Recipe actually has a more sophisticated name, as it is formally known as lamb persillade.   Persillade is fancy French name meaning a combo of parsley and seasonings, which is exactly what we added to the bread crumbs and compound butter in this roasted rack of lamb recipe.  I know this is big of me, but this has and always be 1 of my favorite dishes of all time.  I’ve always said that lamb and duck are my 2 favorite things to eat and this rack of lamb doesn’t disappoint.  From the ridiculously flavorful butter and bread crumbs, to the sear on the lamb, to the amazingly tasty dominos potatoes, this dish is jam packed with awesomeness.

Easter is around the corner and since I am a bit of a traditionalist, so lamb is always on the menu come Easter.  Ever since I learned about this Roasted Rack of Lamb Recipe with Herb Bread Crumbs, or Lamb Persillade as we call it in the industry, I fell in love.  My first time making it was in culinary school and I literally could not get enough.  I went by everyone who made one and asked if they had leftovers because I wanted to eat it!  Another funny story is when I made this years ago for some friends and I couldn’t stop talking about how much I loved it, so one of my friends said I should change my name from Billy Parisi to Billy Persillade lol.  I know, I’m over the top sometimes.  There are also twists on this version as well.  Instead of using this really tasty herb butter, you can also use Dijon mustard in place of it and put that down on the lamb before adding on the crumbs.  Both ways are awesome, just different.  In any event, once you try this you will love it guaranteed and my hope is that it will become not only your new favorite lamb dish but also your favorite dish in general.

If you’ve got an herb butter lying around be sure to use it, if not it’s as easy as whipping together chives, thyme, parsley, unsalted butter, finely minced garlic, salt and pepper until the butter becomes light and fluffy.  Just note that you most likely won’t use all of the butter but be sure to freeze it and use it for another recipe.  It is delicious mixed into some veggies or finished over a tasty steak.  You’re welcome :-).

When preparing large meals for a crowd, I’m all about finding ways to help me create things more efficiently, so I can enjoy the company of the folks that are breaking bread with me.  One of my favorite tools in my kitchen is my Franke Roller Mat.  It has so many different functions from drying dishes, to being used as a hot pad, and my favorite as a colander.   Since the potatoes take the longest to cook it’s important for timing purposes that we start with those first, which means washing them.  Thanks to my Franke roller mat, it rolls out perfectly over my gorgeous bright white Franke farmhouse sink perfectly and I can use it to clean off my vegetables without having to bend down low into my sink.  I’m about 6’3 plus boots, and I’ll do just about anything to save the life of my back, so if it means putting less stress on it while I rinse my veggies then that’s a huge win in my book.  Like I said, it gets used all the time.

Once your potatoes are sliced up, basted with butter and seasoned with salt, you want to press them down gently onto a sheet tray with parchment paper so that they represent dominos, hence dominos potatoes.  They take about 45 minutes to cook so after 20 to 25 minutes you want to get started on your lamb.  Be sure to French the lamb by removing all of the fat and sinew away from the bones to make them really stand out and pop.  It looks so much better this way and I promise your guests will be wowed.

 

 

It’s important to season your lamb very well on both sides with salt and pepper before searing it in olive oil until it is golden brown and caramelized on all sides.  From there flip it over to be fat side up and spread on the butter and sprinkle on the bread crumbs, and send it to the oven to finish it up to your desired internal temperature.  A rack of lamb can take a minute to cook so be sure to set aside 10-15 minutes to achieve a medium-rare internal temperature.  If you love medium or medium-well then for sure give yourself 20 to 25 minutes.  If you like well done, just throw it away!


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Roasted Rack of Lamb Recipe with Herb Bread Crumbs
 
Try this classic Roasted Rack of Lamb Recipe with Herb Bread Crumbs that is sure to be a family favorite!
Ingredients
  • 1 New Zealand or Domestic rack of lamb
  • 1 tablespoon dry thyme
  • 1 tablespoon dry parsley
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • ½ cup Panko bread crumbs
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
Instructions
  1. Season the lamb rack with salt and pepper and in a hot skillet with sear till golden brown on all sides. For the herb crumbs, place everything in a mixing bowl and mix until completely combined minus the mustard.
  2. Once the lamb rack is perfectly seared keep it in the pan with the fat cap side up.
  3. Next spread the dijon mustard evenly and generously sprinkle the herb crumbs on top.
  4. Place pan in the oven on 350° for 6-10 minutes for a perfect medium-rare.
  5. Slice rack, serve hot and enjoy

Spring Salad Recipe with Farro and Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette

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Spring Salad Recipe with Farro and Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette

Spring is in the air and the weather outside is just starting to turn for the better.  Winter’s here in Chicago are long and cold so it’s no wonder the city starts to erupt in March with more and more folks chomping at the bit to get outside at any sign of 40°+ weather.  For me it’s not only the opportunity to spend some more time outdoors, but it’s also turning the page in the produce department.  March brings about things like fresh peas, asparagus, avocados and arugula.  Sure, those things are available all year round but if you know me then you know I prefer to eat in season so now that all of these things are available, a spring salad recipe is definitely on my menu.

In addition to all of the spring produce that is available, I knew I wanted to have a delicious grain to act as the backbone in this recipe.  I’ve been saying it for years so clearly I’m still a ways away, but I’m trying to incorporate more plants into my diet so leaving the animal protein out of this spring salad recipe was a must.  Whether it’s grains, legumes or flours, Bob’s Red Mill is always our go to.  Bob’s products are superior in every facet and we trust them with their growing, harvesting, storing and packaging process, so we also trust them with our bodies and what we put in them.  Bob’s is transparent and they tell you about the entire process, and we love that!  I used Bob’s Red Mill Farro as the grain in this salad recipe and whoa was it delish!  If you’ve never had farro before I like to tell folks that it is a cross between brown rice and barley.  It’s got a wonderful chewy texture and subtle earthy-nutty flavors.  Farro is also really easy to cook as it’s done in under 35 minutes!

While the farro is cooking, this is great time to prepare everything else.  I’m loadin up this spring salad recipe with green beans, asparagus, peas, candied pecans, a few other veggies and an insanely delicious lemon thyme vinaigrette.  For the veggies it is essential that you blanch them in hot water and then immediately cool them.  I put the green beans and the asparagus into the hot water first because they take a bit longer to cook.  After about a minute or two I then add in the peas and cook for another minute or so.  I’m cooking these guys pretty quick because I want to ensure they still have some crunch to them.  There is nothing sadder than an over cooked vegetable so be sure to cook these veggies quick!

Next, I made my vinaigrette by simply adding all of the ingredients into a bowl and then slowly whisking in the oil.  Vinaigrettes are so easy to make and once you start making them yourselves for a few times you will never again buy them from the store, there’s no point.  A homemade vinaigrette is so delicious plus you can swap out and add ingredients to them to make them just how you want them.  I wanted a sweet vinaigrette with some hints of lemon and thyme because I figured those great flavors would be wonderful with the greens and farro.  A standard vinaigrette is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar, but because I love vinegar so much I like to do 2-to-1 oil to vinegar so that I can get more of the flavor into it.

Making homemade vinaigrette is easy and so is homemade candied pecans.  When I started to make stuff like this at home on a frequent basis, the less time I spend looking for someone else who makes it.  You see, my whole goal is to inspire and teach people how to cook at home as it is one of my greatest fear that home cooking is on the way out the door and is being replaced with ready to eat meals.  There is nothing more satisfying than making, serving and eating homemade meals, nor will there be a better time to connect with your family on a daily basis then over delicious food.

The last thing is to simply assemble the salad.  I’ve got quite a few things on this salad but I want you to know that you can garnish yours with whatever you’d like.  If you start with the farro, veggies, vinaigrette and candied pecans then you are on your way to having a fantastic salad, the rest is up to you for accessorizing!  I hope you enjoy this recipe, and enjoy the time making, serving and eating it with your family.  Take some time to breathe and just enjoy it!

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Spring Salad Recipe with Farro and Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette
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Recipe type: salad
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
The weather is finally turning, which means more produce is beginning to become available. This Spring Salad Recipe with Farro and Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette is packed with delicious seasonal greens and vegetables for an unbelievable flavor. This salad feeds a ton so be sure to scale it back as you see fit.
Ingredients
  • 4 cups of cooked Bob's Red Mill Farro
  • 1 cup of trimmed green beans
  • ½ bunch of asparagus, cut into 1" pieces
  • 1 cup of spring peas
  • Whisk together juice of 1 lemon, ¼ cup of white wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 3 tablespoons of honey, 1 tablespoon each chopped chives and thyme and 1 cup of olive oil
  • 1 cup of light brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
  • 3 tablespoons of water
  • 12 ounces of spring mix lettuce
  • 6 hard boiled eggs, shelled and cut in half
  • 1 bunch of cherry tomatoes
  • 2 thinly sliced radishes
  • 2 peeled, seeded and sliced avocados
  • micro greens for garnish
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Par boil the green beans, asparagus and peas in a large pot of boiling salted water. First add in the beans and asparagus for 90 seconds and then add in the peas and cook for a further 90 seconds. Rinse and chill immediately.
  2. Next, season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper and set aside.
  3. In a large pan over medium heat add in the brown sugar, butter and water and cook until it is boiling and becomes very thick, about 2 to 3 minutes.
  4. Stir in the pecans and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes until the caramel sauce completely coats the pecans.
  5. Spread the pecans out on a sheet tray lined with a rubber mat or parchment paper and cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside.
  6. To Plate: Place the greens in a large bowl and accessorize with the cooked farro, par-boiled green beans, asparagus and peas, hard boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, radishes, candied pecans, avocados and micro green and serve alongside the vinaigrette.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bob’s Red Mill. The opinions and text are all mine.

 

Vegan Tacos Recipes with Jackfruit and Black Beans

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Vegan Tacos Recipes with Jackfruit and Black Beans

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of BUSH’S® Beans. The opinions and text are all mine.

I am always looking to try new things so when I came across the opportunity to make a vegan tacos recipe, I thought it was perfect timing to try out jackfruit. I’m sure you’ve seen the videos online of that huge spikey green fruit that has these weird pods inside.  Well I’m here to set the record straight, it’s exactly like what you see in the videos.  It’s huge, the spikes on the outside are a little sharp and wow is it sticky!!  I can only imagine the person who discovered jackfruit while stumbling through the forest in the Philippines and thought, “I should try this?”  So, what does jackfruit taste like? I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor as I ripped through the inside to try and get to a pod, so I could eat it. The best way to describe the flavor is that it tastes just like that gum that rhymes with lucyroot. Catch my drift? :-).

How to Cut Jackfruit

While I used a fresh jackfruit, I just want to note that you can absolutely purchase the pre-packed version for ease and quickness. Breaking down the jackfruit to get to the pods isn’t all that hard, but it does take about 30 minutes to do the whole thing so be sure to allow yourself some time if you choose to use the fresh version.  Once you separate the pods from the seeds you then want to place the pods in a slow cooker with some spices and herbs and begin to cook it. I discarded the jackfruit pods but after doing some research I found that they are loaded with fiber and if you bake them a bit a lot of people then make them into a hummus. Just a little FYI if you are one of the types of people who like to use everything, to eliminate food waste.

While the jackfruit was slow cooking I quickly pickled some onions using an incredibly simple recipe that allows you to get some pretty good flavors in just a few hours. Also, while the jackfruit was cooking I prepared some of the toppings, starting with BUSH’S® Black Beans.   This recipe is vegan so it’s great to know that BUSH’S® offers a ton of vegetarian products including the black beans that I used.  BUSH’S Black Beans are actually considered a superfood as they are loaded with protein and fiber and are extremely low in fat.  I’m all about using food from folks that I trust and BUSH’S Beans has been around for more than 100 years. Black beans have obviously been around for thousands of years and are still a staple ingredient in several Central and South American cuisines. BUSH’S Black Beans are grown right here in North America and are hand selected to ensure deliciousness and texture. While I’m using them in this Vegan Tacos Recipe, they are great in soups, with rice and a ton of other recipes, such as this black bean salsa.

It was kind of last minute, but I also decided to roast some bell peppers because I thought it could add some great color and flavors to this vegan tacos recipe.  Don’t get me wrong there are tons of other flavors in this recipe, but I am always looking to add to the complexity to help push it even further.  The combo of the roasted peppers and pickled onions are going to be really good when combined with the sweet and slightly spicy flavors from the jackfruit!

One thing that I haven’t tried much of, outside of the jackfruit, is vegan cheese.  I actually didn’t know what to think of it until I really got my hands on it at home.  I’ve had it in the store when people are sampling it, but I’ve only had a small nibble and went on my way.  When I got to eat more of it, I was shocked at just how good it is.  It doesn’t taste exactly like cheese, but I think that’s the beauty of it.  So many times I hear people who try the vegan diet and complain that it doesn’t taste like the real thing.  My argument is that it doesn’t have to – it has its own delicious flavors that can and should live all by themselves.

Here’s to meatless Monday, #tacotuesday and Lent!! Now go get after this delicious Vegan Tacos Recipes with Jackfruit and Black Beans.

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Vegan Tacos Recipes with Jackfruit and Black Beans
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Recipe type: main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 10
 
If you are into celebrating meatless Monday or even Taco Tuesday then this Vegan Tacos Recipes with Jackfruit and Black Beans loaded with delicious flavors all while keeping a plant based diet in mind. This recipe is 100% vegan and packed with goodness and nutrients!
Ingredients
For the Jackfruit:
  • ½ fresh jackfruit, broken down to only pods
  • 1 tablespoon each of ground cumin, chili powder and oregano
  • 2 cups of vegetable stock or water
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
For the taco:
  • 1 peeled and thinly sliced red onion
  • 1 cup of red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar
  • 10 corn tortillas
  • 1 can of BUSH'S® Black Beans, drained and rinsed, heated
  • 1 each seeded, julienne and quickly sautéed red and green bell pepper
  • 2 cups of shredded vegan cheese, mozzarella or cheddar, or both
  • 2 peeled, seeded and large diced avocados
  • ½ cup of fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
  1. Jackfruit: Add the jackfruit pods, cumin, chili powder, oregano, vegetable stock and salt and pepper to a slow cooker and cook on hi for 2 hours or until the pods are soft and are easy to shred. Keep warm.
  2. Taco: Add the red onions, vinegar and sugar to a bowl and mix. Pickle the red onions for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
  3. To Plate: place some slow cooked jackfruit on a corn tortilla and top off with some heated BUSH'S® Black Beans, sautéed bell peppers, pickled onions, vegan cheese, avocados and cilantro leaves. Repeat until all of the tortillas have been made.

 

Gourmet Breakfast Toast Recipes with Poached Eggs

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One of the most difficult meals to prepare in my household is breakfast.  It seems as if there are so few options.  Cereal, oatmeal or eggs, what would you like?  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any issues with any of those things, but man can it get boring when it becomes routine.  It also seems as if breakfast is carb heavy in order to give us energy early in the morning, but truth be told we should be looking to protein and vegetables to help in that department.  Again, I’m not knocking carbs after all I’m Italian and was born with a slice of bread in my hands, but protein and veggies are much more sustaining and better for you in the long run.

When it comes to making breakfast, you’ve got to be able to prepare it in 15 minutes or less, which is why I came up with an assortment of recipes for these Gourmet Breakfast Toast Recipes with Poached Eggs.  There is no hour to get things prepped for feeding your family, unless of course you are in a nice restaurant preparing for guests.  Nope, my family is hungry in the morning and they want food NOW!  Regardless of any meal that I prepare, I always take a stroll down the dairy aisle where I almost always pick up a something new to try out.  Whether it be whipped cream cheese, almond milk or brown eggs like these GMO-free Nature Fed Eggs, there is always something I can get to help enhance my recipes.  We are a mostly organic natural food family which means we want to know how our food was cultivated or created, so we have an idea of what we are putting into our bodies.  Nature Fed Eggs give me a lot of reassurance that their eggs are from chickens who are free range and eat what nature provides making it taste and look great.  I hope I get a chance to tour their barn some day!

 

As I said earlier, it’s important to get breakfast on the table quick, and these 5 Gourmet Breakfast Toast Recipes with Poached Eggs are all really easy to do and can be done in under 15 minutes total.  While I recommend doing just 1 or 2 to serve up, you should definitely give all of them a try because they are really tasty.  The first part of the toast recipes is of course, the toast.  I used a variation of breads which include ciabatta, rye and sourdough, HOWEVER, this recipe can totally be changed up so please feel free to use whatever kind of artisan bread you’d like.  In fact, even a homemade bread recipe would be fantastic with this!  Simply slice and toast the bread in a toaster or in an oven on a broiler setting and then load it up with your desired toppings.

Poaching eggs can be a little tricky because more often than not it turns into this crazy spider web of egg whites that go all over the place.  The trick to making it a smaller, more full egg is by stirring the water in a circular motion using a spoon and then putting the egg in it and letting the white wrap around the yolk.  Be sure to only simmer the water over low heat as well as seasoning it with salt.

The first toast I created was by spreading on a bit of ricotta to the toast and then adding on slices of avocado and topping off with some chia and sesame seeds.  You can absolutely add more seeds such as poppy seeds, hemp heart seeds, etc.  Last but not least top with the egg and serve!

The second toast was a combo of cream cheese, smoked salmon, radishes, a poached egg and micro greens.  Always remember to season with salt and pepper.

The third toast was an Italian delight with roasted cherry tomatoes, burrata, a poached egg and fresh chopped basil.  Yup, you guessed it, this one was my favorite.

The fourth toast had sliced roasted beets, goat cheese, a poached egg and thyme.  Super simple and absolutely loaded with flavor.

The last toast was roasted mushrooms, a poached egg, parmesan cheese and a little truffle oil.  This one was a really close second favorite!

Get your breakfast going!!

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Gourmet Breakfast Toast Recipes with Poached Eggs
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Recipe type: breakfast
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 5
 
Our family is so busy in the morning time that often times it is so hard to get something delicious on the table that I know is good for everyone, so I came up with these tasty Gourmet Breakfast Toast Recipes with Poached Eggs that definitely satisfied everyone at that table!
Ingredients
  • 5 slices of toasted bread, rye, sourdough or ciabatta
  • 5 poached eggs
  • Optional Toppings Include: roasted shiitake mushrooms, parsley, parmesan cheese, truffle oil, roasted sliced red beets, goat cheese, thyme leaves, burrata cheese, roasted cherry tomatoes, fresh chopped basil, whipped cream cheese, smoked salmon slices, sliced radishes, micro greens, ricotta cheese, sliced avocados, chia seeds, sesame seeds
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Mushroom Toast: Place the roasted mushrooms on the toast and top with a poached egg, chopped parsley, grated parmesan cheese, truffle oil, salt and pepper. Serve!
  2. Beet Toast: Place the sliced roasted beets on the toast and fan them out. Top off with a poached egg, thyme leaves, goat cheese and salt and pepper. Serve!
  3. Tomato Toast: Place the roasted tomatoes and burrata next to each other on the toast and top off with a poached egg, chopped basil, and salt and pepper. Serve!
  4. Smoked Salmon Toast: Spread the cream cheese on the toast and top with smoked salmon slices, sliced radishes, poached egg, micro greens, and salt and pepper. Serve!
  5. Avocado Toast: Spread the ricotta cheese onto the toast and fan the avocado slices over top. Place the poached egg over the avocado slices and sprinkle on the chia seeds, sesame seeds, salt and pepper. Serve!

For more great recipes and ideas be sure to follow my friends at easyhomemeals.com and follow them at their social media channels below:

 

Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl Recipe with Falafel and Garlic Tahini Sauce

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Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl Recipe with Falafel and Garlic Tahini Sauce

Every single time I make falafel at home I always say to myself WHY do I not make it more often?  I mean it is just so delicious and so incredibly easy to make that it is a no brainer to make!  This Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl Recipe with Falafel and Garlic Tahini Sauce features tons of delicious flavors that are sure to satisfy your Indian/Mediterranean craving!  I have to admit that I like my falafel over most restaurants simply because I season it.  Something as small as salt and pepper goes a long way, but when I eat falafel in a restaurant I am always dumping tahini sauce all over it so that it tastes like something.  Most of the time I get an over cooked really dry falafel that has no flavor and was probably cooked early in the morning and put under a heat lamp all day until I order it.  Well maybe that’s not exactly the case, however, my falafel is better!  I believe the folks in the Mediterranean area would be happy with my falafel :-).

I do have to admit then the first time I ever made falafel, way back in my restaurant days, I made it from canned chickpeas and once I fried it, it completely fell apart in the oil.  I was so flippin mad!  I should have put some flour in there and I knew it but didn’t.  Fast forward 20 years and the real secret is not to use canned chickpeas.  No, it’s to use dried chickpeas that are reconstituted.  You see canned chickpeas are cooked and soaked making them dang near impossible to hold together because there isn’t much left to cook.  I used Bob’s Red Mill dried chickpeas which honestly are perfect for falafel, as is all their products for whatever your need may be.  Once you soak them over night in water, drain them and toss them in a food processor with all the other goodness and pulse it until it becomes like a meal.  At this stage try and think of what a pie crust might look like and you’ll be just about there.

You want to from the falafel into golf ball sized, or smaller, balls that you fry up in some grapeseed oil.  I like grapeseed oil because it’s on the healthier side and has a high smoking point, but you can absolutely use oils like safflower, canola or coconut, totally up to you.  Once the falafels are golden brown and cooked through out, that’s the key make sure they are done in the middle, you want to drain them on a paper towel to get rid of any access oil that they are fried in.  You want to keep the falafel warm while you make the garlic tahini sauce and the quinoa so you may want to keep them in the oven at like 140° just so they stay warm.  Just a little FYI there for ya.

There really isn’t too much to say about the garlic tahini sauce other than you putting everything into a bowl and whisking it together until it is combined.  I guess the only thing you could watch out for is that tahini, or ground up sesame seeds, has a very strong earthy flavor to it and the only way to cut that is with the lemon juice.  If you feel you need more lemon juice because the garlic tahini sauce is just to earthy, or bitter, then by all means add some more in there until it meets your needs.  I always say you should recipes as guidelines and feel free to tweak where necessary.

One of the things we have become obsessed with is quinoa.  The first quinoa I ever bought was Bob’s Red Mill about 5 years ago because I remember hearing just how good it was for you and how it was a complete protein and an amazing supplement should you want to skip meat for a night.  Well fast forward to now and we are still cooking up Bob’s Red Mill quinoa because it’s delicious, it’s loaded with nutrients and because we trust Bob with everything we put into our body.  If you want to wow some friends then for sure make this Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl Recipe with Falafel and Garlic Tahini Sauce, because honestly it only takes about 45 minutes to make.  BOOOOM!

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Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl Recipe with Falafel and Garlic Tahini Sauce
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Recipe type: main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
Take your weeknight meals to the next level with this Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl Recipe with Falafel and Garlic Tahini Sauce that is loaded with everything that goes into a falafel sandwich. From pickles, to feta, to spinach this falafel bowl is absolutely to die for!
Ingredients
For the Falafel:
  • 1 cup of dried Bob's Red Mill Chickpeas submerged in water overnight and drained
  • ½ peeled and roughly chopped yellow onion
  • ¼ cup of Italian parsley leaves
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
  • oil for frying
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
For the Garlic Tahini Sauce:
  • ½ cup of tahini
  • ⅓ cup of water
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 3 finely minced garlic cloves
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
For the Bowl:
  • 6 cups of cooked Bob's Red Mill Quinoa
  • 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, roasted or raw
  • 2 cups of sliced dill pickles
  • 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese
  • 3 cups of packed baby spinach
  • 1 cup of assorted pitted Mediterranean olives
  • micro-greens for garnish
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Add the drained chickpeas to a food processor along with the onion, parsley, garlic, baking powder, cumin and salt and pepper and process until it becomes like a meal.
  2. Using your hands mold golf ball sized balls or smaller from the chickpea batter and set them aside.
  3. Heat the grapeseed oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat until it reaches 375°.
  4. Add in the falafel and cook for 1 ½ to 2 minutes per side or until golden browned and cooked in the center. Drain on a paper towel once they are done cooking.
  5. Tahini - Whisk together all the ingredients in a medium size bowl and keep cool until ready to serve.
  6. To Plate: Place 1 cup of cooked quinoa into a bowl and garnish with tomatoes, pickles, feta, spinach, olives, cooked falafel, tahini and micro greens. Serve hot.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bob’s Red Mill. The opinions and text are all mine.

 

New York Strip Steak Recipe with Lyonnaise Potatoes

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New York Strip Steak Recipe with Lyonnaise Potatoes

Whether I’m doing it live in a demonstration or for some guests, people are always so interested when I cook a New York Strip Steak, as well as other cuts of meat.  I think it’s because most folks are trying to learn how to perfect their skills by cooking steak to their perfect liking.  One thing I can say about cooking steak and getting it to that beautiful desired internal temperature is that it takes a ton of practice.  There really is no science behind, it’s just going through the motions of mastery through repetition.  I mean even though I have an extensive cooking background I wasn’t just immediately good at getting steak to temperature, it took a ton of overcooked and undercooked steaks to get to where I am now.  I also think when it comes to preparing steak the people get nervous that it is burning or going past the temperature they want.  Truth be told, the waiting game is your best friend when cooking steak.

I’m not much for flipping steaks back and forth to try and achieve equal browning or grill marks on both sides.  My philosophy is very similar to that of famous chef Francis Mallman, who says to cook steak for longer on the first side and then flip it and cook it for the half time of the first side and serve it.  Doing this allows to get a really deep caramelized golden brown on 1 side of the steak without over cooking it.  If you want those perfect sear marks then you can’t be flipping it around in the pan like it’s some sausage link or something, you need to have patience!  When it comes to preparing this New York Strip Steak Recipe with Lyonnaise Potatoes, it’s crucial to start with the potatoes first because they take the longest to cook.  Don’t worry they don’t take some crazy amount of time to make, but when it comes to preparing a meal with multiple elements, then it becomes all about timing.

I like to give all of my vegetables a rinse before prepping them.  I often times do not peel root vegetables because there are so much nutrients in the skins, so it’s wise that I rinse them since they are grown in the dirt.  One of my favorite things in our kitchen is my Franke Roller Mat, I seriously use it for everything.  In addition to its many uses such as dish drying, or as a hot pad, I most often use it as a colander for my larger vegetables, like these potatoes in my Lyonnaise potatoes recipe.  I’m going to peel these potatoes just for looks sake but please don’t feel like you have to, you know I’m all about making things look pretty :-).  So once your potatoes are washed you can either peel them or leave them intact, but then you want to slice them thin.  I use a mandolin for this process because it keeps them super consistent, but hey if you’ve got some killer knife cuts or are looking for more practice then by all means get out your chef’s knife and let it roll.  The same process goes for a yellow onion because we are going to cook it with the sliced potatoes.  Oh yeah, peel the onion :-).

Place some olive oil in a large sauté pan and sear the potatoes and onions until they begin to brown.  You also want to make sure and move some things around in the pan every 2 minutes or so because the potatoes or onions can burn which can lead to them sticking to the pan, so be mindful of that.  Next, I like to season them with salt and pepper, a few pads of butter, and then I place them in the oven on 400° to finish them off.  The amount of time it takes for them to cook, about 10-12 minutes is just about the exact time it takes to cook a beautiful New York Strip Steak.

One of the most important aspects to preparing steak is ensuring it is well seasoned.  Do not be afraid of salt or pepper when seasoning steaks, make sure there is salt all over ever square centimeter of the meat!  There is nothing worse than an unseasoned steak, nothing, so season it well.  Now it’s time to add some olive oil to a cast iron skillet over high heat and wait for the oil to lightly smoke.  Once it begins to lightly smoke, add your seasoned New York strip steaks into the pan and turn the heat down to medium-high and add in some butter, thyme, rosemary and a few garlic cloves.  This process is known as sautéing and doing it properly J.  These steaks around almost a pound a piece so they are going to cook for about 10 minutes, or so, total for it to be a beautiful medium-rare, which is what I like.  Sear the steak for about 5 to 6 minutes.  Don’t worry it is not going to burn, just be sure to move the herbs and garlic around so they do not.  Flip the steak over and immediately begin basting them with the buttery, herby, garlicky goodness that is in the pan.  This process will help cook your steak, make it tender, and most importantly it will make it flavorful.

Once the steaks are done cooking, transfer them to a plate and let them rest for a few minutes before serving.  I use the Franke Roller Mat here to help air escape from the bottom of the plate, so the steaks maintain their internal temperature and don’t overcook.  Like I said the Roller Mat is a cook’s best friend!  At the same time your New York strip steaks are done and ready for serving, your Lyonnaise potatoes will be also.  Like I said, it’s all about timing, and if you are serving this up to a significant other on Valentine’s Day then you definitely want to take care not to jack it up.  Have fun and happy cooking you guys!


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New York Strip Steak Recipe with Lyonnaise Potatoes
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
If you are one of those people who get nervous when cooking steak because you are always worried it will burn or over cook, then this New York Strip Steak Recipe with Lyonnaise Potatoes is for you. See how easy it is to make a delicious pan roasted steak in only a few minutes.
Ingredients
For the Potatoes:
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 5 peeled and thinly sliced russet potatoes
  • 1 peeled and sliced yellow onion
  • 2 ounces of unsalted butter
  • 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
For the Steak:
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 15-16 ounce New York Strip Steaks
  • 10-15 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • 2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
  • 4-6 garlic cloves
  • 3 ounces of unsalted butter
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Potatoes: Preheat the oven to 400°.
  2. Add the oil to a large saute pan over high heat and wait for it to lightly smoke. Add in the potatoes and onions and cook for 8-10 minutes or until you begin to see some dark brown edges on the potatoes and onions.
  3. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper and add in ½ the butter over top. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 10-12 minutes or until they are browned and cooked through. Finish by deglazing with the white wine vinegar and remaining butter. Mix before serving.
  4. Steak: Season the steaks generously on both sides with salt and pepper.
  5. Add the oil to a large cast iron skillet and wait for it to lightly smoke. Add in the steaks and turn the heat down to medium-high. Add in the herbs, garlic and butter.
  6. Cook the steak for 5-6 minutes and then flip it over and immediately begin basting it for 2 to 3 minutes.
  7. Remove the steaks and let them rest before slicing and serving alongside the potatoes.

 

Homemade Pizza with Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe

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Homemade Pizza with Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe

If you haven’t noticed by reading my blog billyparisi.com, I love pizza.  No, like I really love pizza and especially pizza dough.  Whenever I travel to other cities I do my best to research and identify that city’s best pizza and then go try it out.  Out of all the places I’ve traveled to or have lived in, Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, I still have a favorite pizza place and it’s where I went to college.  The university of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri has the best pizza joint of all time, Shakespeare’s.  It’s so good that even ABC named it the best college food restaurant in the entire country.  Their crust is amazing, the cheese options and toppings are of the upmost quality, and it’s just plain old good.  While I may never find a place that can live up the Shakespeare’s, I make a pretty dang mean homemade pizza with a homemade pizza dough recipe right in my very own home.

I’ve made several pizza recipes in the past from my Three Different Homemade Pizza Recipes with No Knead Pizza Crust using dark rye flour, to my Homemade Hawaiian pizza with Semolina Crust, and a few more sprinkled in. However, I have to admit that this Homemade Pizza with Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe, may be my absolute favorite.  While the toppings and sauce to a pizza are really important, ask yourself what’s the best part to any pizza.  It’s the pizza crust of course!  For me a light, crusty, filled with air pocket crust that is tender and chewy is where it’s at.  To be honest, it’s kind of hard to hit all of those crust staples because of time mostly.

Hands down the most important things when making a pizza crust are time and ingredients.  If you aren’t starting with really good ingredients than most likely your pizza isn’t going to turn out very good.  For me when it comes to making any bread or general dough recipe I always turn to Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour.  It is packed with protein making it ideal for those gluten packed recipes.  In addition to the bread flour I wanted to add a little depth to my homemade pizza crust recipe so I added in some Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour.  The wheat will help in the flavor department as well as ensuring it to be a golden brown outer pizza crust and a lightly browned inside.  Honestly the combo is insanely delicious but don’t be fooled because you can absolutely use 1 or the other for an all white or all whole wheat pizza crust recipe.  One thing that I believe is an absolutely necessity is the use of a gram scale.  You can be off a gram or 2 in a bread recipe, but you can be off an ounce of 2 or else your recipe will be trashed.  Baking is a science and it needs absolute ingredient amounts, so if your serious about baking or are even remotely interested in it, then get yourself a gram scale; I promise it will be worth it.

Outside of the need to use really good ingredients, time is the second biggest factor.  Making bread is not hard at all, it’s mostly just time that is needed.  No self-respecting pizza joint makes dough an hour before service starts.  No!  You usually have a baker or cook come in at wee hours of the morning to prepare the dough for resting and rising.  THIS is the most important part of the entire baking procedure.  I have a resting time of about 4 ½ hours but if you can make that even longer then your dough will be even fluffier and more tender.  My biggest challenge is trying to record a video with enough light in my kitchen during the day so you can actually see what I am doing.  Dang the time change!

Once you mix your pizza dough recipe together really well you let it sit for 90 minutes covered in plastic wrap before stretching it and folding it for 2 minutes.  Then, let is rest for 90 more minutes before removing it from the bowl.  You then want to form it to a large ball and then split it into fourths.  This recipe will give you 4 pizza doughs, which is awesome!  The topping portion is completely up to you so get as creative or as simple as you’d like, but one thing is for certain and that is this homemade pizza dough recipe is legit!

5.0 from 2 reviews
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Homemade Pizza with Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4 pizzas
 
No matter where I travel to, I am always on the hung for the best pizza in that city. For some reason I keep coming back to my own homemade pizza with homemade pizza dough recipe. It's incredibly light and fluffy with the most perfect brown crust once cooked making it one of the best I've ever had.
Ingredients
  • 560 grams of Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour
  • 190 grams of Bob’s Red Mill whole Wheat Flour
  • 600 grams of water at 98° to 100°
  • 10 grams of Kosher salt
  • 4 grams of active yeast
  • optional pizza toppings
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl combine with your hands the flours, water, salt and yeast until completely mixed together. Let rest for 90 minutes covered in plastic wrap
  2. Next, stretch and fold the dough for 2 minutes and cover and rest for 90 more minutes
  3. Dust a clean surface with flour and place the dough onto it. Sprinkle the top with flour and fold the dough over 2 times and then begin to mold the dough into a ball by cupping around the dough into the bottom.
  4. Cut the dough into 4 individual dough balls and using the same cupping method form 4 dough balls and place on a sheet tray with parchment paper dusted with flour and covered with a towel, and rest for 90 minutes
  5. Place a pizza stone into the oven and preheat to 500°.
  6. Form a dough ball on a clean surface dusted with flour and stretch it out until it is about 12”-14” in diameter and transfer to a wooden pizza paddle. Add on desired toppings leaving a ½” to ¾” inch around the outside for the crust.
  7. Dust the pizza stone with semolina flour and transfer the pizza onto the stone. Bake for 5 minutes before rotating the pizza 180° and then baking for another 5-7 minutes or until the crust is browned and the cheese is completely melted.
  8. Slice and serve!

 

Creamy Chicken and Dumpling Soup Recipe

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Creamy Chicken and Dumpling Soup Recipe

There are few things in this world that I enjoy more than a hot bowl of chicken and dumpling soup when it is 2° outside.  Fortunately, there’s been a ton of soup making and eating lately, unfortunately it’s absolutely freezing outside making it dang near impossible to leave the house.  Every time I step outside I want to smack myself thinking about me complaining that it was too hot out way back in August.  HOW DARE I!!  Most of the country are actually feeling the effects of this cold winter, which makes this creamy chicken and dumpling soup recipe perfect for making and eating, and thank gosh it’s super easy to pull off!

When I was in the restaurant industry way back in the day, we would make these gigantic steam jackets full of chicken stock.  They kettles would usually render about 40 gallons of chicken stock, and believe it or not we would go through it in about 2 weeks time.  There was a process or roasting bones, deglazing and then a soft simmer for about 6 to 8 hours.  Well, ain’t nobody got time for that when you’re at home and it’s freezing cold and need hot soup asap.  The expedited way to make chicken stock is to poach a whole chicken in mirepoix, which is 50% onions, 25% carrots and 25% celery, by weight.  Don’t worry you can eye ball it no problem!  You are wanting the liquid from the poached chicken as well as the chicken itself, so it’s a win win.  Just a little note that this recipe will leave you with about a ½ gallon of chicken stock leftover, but don’t worry because it freezes really well for recipes down the road.

Once your chicken is completely cooked and you’ve gotten just about every ounce of flavor you can into the liquid then you want to strain the stock, discard the veggies and pull the chicken.  The chicken will be pretty hot so be careful as you remove the skin and release the chicken meat form the carcass.  If you have BBQ gloves they work perfect for this.  Once the chicken meat is taken off go ahead and discard the carcass and roughly chop the chicken to bite size pieces.  You can place this in the refrigerator or set aside while you quickly cup up more mirepoix and make a batch up of dumpling batter.  I would suggest the refrigerator unless you have some fine knife cutting skills, up to you.

The dumplings could not be easier to make, honestly.  When it comes to anything batter or dough related my go to is always Bob’s Red Mill.  Their organic all-purpose flour is high enough in gluten to meet all of your baking needs making it a kitchen cabinet staple in my house.  Just simply mix together the flour, baking powder, milk, scallions, parsley and salt.  Stop right here.  Now, if you want you can add in some cheese and make these dumplings extra cheesy.  This recipe is really interchangeable to whatever other ingredients you want to add into it so if you’re feeling cheesy, or creative, feel free to pop some cheese in there!  If it were me, I would probably do parmesan cheese but that’s just me.

Finally, TIME TO START COOKING!  We are going to sweat the vegetables in some butter which means cooking them over low to medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes.  You then want to add in some flour to make a roux, so be sure to give it a good stir, and then add in the chicken and stock.  Bring the soup to a boil because that will sort of help activate the roux and thicken it up.  You don’t want alfredo sauce here, you simply want to add a little body to the stock.  The best reference I can give would be to make it look and feel like a thin gravy.  Make sense?  Lastly, finish the soup with some hominy, peas and salt and pepper.

Now for the dumpling cooking!  Add in 1 tablespoon of the dough at a time and cook it in the simmering sop for 5 to 6 minutes turning it ever 1 to 2 minutes.  It will puff up a bit and become very tender, kind of like bread.  From there it’s all about serving up the soup with some fresh herbs and parmesan cheese.  Enjoy!

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Creamy Chicken and Dumpling Soup Recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: soup
 
When it's cold outside almost always turn to making a gigantic pot of soup. There is something therapeutic to me about making and eating soup during those chilly winder months. Learn how easy it is to make this Creamy Chicken and Dumpling Soup Recipe that is soothing to the soul.
Ingredients
For the Chicken Stock:
  • 1 whole roasting chicken
  • 1 small diced yellow onion
  • 3 large diced carrots
  • 4 large diced stalks of celery stalks
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 small bunch each of fresh thyme and parsley
For the Soup:
  • 4 ounces of unsalted butter
  • 1 peeled and small diced yellow onion
  • 6-7 celery stalks, small dice
  • 4-5 medium sized carrots, small dice
  • 2 finely minced garlic cloves
  • 4 ounces of Bob’s Red Mill Organic All-Purpose Flour
  • 2 cups of sweat peas
  • 2 cups of hominy
For the Dumplings:
  • 4 cups of Bob’s Red Mill Organic All Purpose Flour
  • 3 tablespoons baking powder
  • 2 cups of milk
  • ¼ cups chopped fresh parsley
  • ½ cup chopped fresh scallions
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
  1. Chicken Stock: In a large pot place in all ingredients under “chicken stock” and poach the chicken on medium-high heat until it is completely cooked through, about 1 hour. Once cooked, strain the liquid and remove the chicken meat from the carcass and roughly chop to bite size pieces.
  2. Soup: In a large pot or rondeaux on medium heat add in the butter and sweat the onions, celery, carrots and garlic for 5 to 6 minutes.
  3. Next, add it the flour and stir to make a roux.
  4. Add in the chopped chicken and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Note, there will be ½ gallon of stock leftover.
  5. Once the soup is boiling and thicker, turn the heat to low and add the peas, hominy and cook for 20 minutes.
  6. Dumplings: In a large bowl add together all dumpling ingredients until combined. Drop 1 tablespoon portions of the dough from a spoon into the soup and simmer for 5 minutes on each side until cooked through.
  7. Serve with optional garnishes: chopped green onions, parsley, thyme and parmesan cheese.

 

How to Make a Homemade Artisan Country Loaf Bread Recipe

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How to Make a Homemade Artisan Country Loaf Bread Recipe

Thanks again guys for stopping in to BillyParisi.com to check out all of my recipes and videos, and on tap for today is this How to Make a Homemade Artisan Country Loaf Bread Recipe.  It is to this day the best loaf of bread I have ever made.  As I get more comfortable with baking homemade bread, each recipe just seems to get better and better.  While the measurements are incredibly important, I’ll talk more on this later, technique and time are just as important if not more important.  Regardless, I’ve been LOVING baking homemade bread just like this artisan country loaf recipe and I can’t see myself slowing down any time soon.  Once you get your first really good loaf of homemade bread then it just pushes you to keep exploring and trying new things.  Can you tell I’m excited about baking homemade bread yet lol?

I made homemade bread a little bit throughout my food years since culinary school and to be honest I was a hack.  In fact, I feel like I was a food hack with a lot of things but now I’ve got some more patience and am generally more interested in the creativity and creation of food then I’ve ever been before.  I had a solid culinary education but to be honest my “on the job training” wasn’t all that awesome so most of my creativity had to come from myself.  It’s not that I didn’t work with amazing chefs, I did, it’s just that they were much better chefs from a management and classical standpoint and didn’t put as much emphasis on pushing the envelope in the creativity department.  I only tell you this because we never even made homemade bread when I was working at all those restaurants back in the day, we got it brought in.  It’s simple things like making homemade bread, that can make all the difference in the world.

I’ve been doing some reading lately and I have to say that the best book for homemade bread making techniques is Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast.  It’s incredibly informative about how to go about each step in the bread making process and honestly, it’s fool proof.  It’s pretty much exactly what you would learn in a baking class in culinary school, except for when to add the yeast into the flour, salt and water.  Regardless it’s a fantastic book for making bread if you are interested in getting into this fun cooking hobby.

There are so many countries out there that have people who still make bread every single day.  To me, baking homemade bread is a dying art form and while it does take time, there is nothing more satisfying then making it especially from something so simple.  Bread, when done right, is loaded with all of the minerals and vitamins you need to sustain life.  While I cheated a bit with this artisan country loaf bread recipe, the most traditional way would have been using a starter instead of yeast.  However, most people who are just everyday cooks aren’t going to take the time and money it takes to feed a starter once a day so yeast is much more practical.

To make this homemade bread recipe you are looking at about 5 hours.  I think I said 3 hours and 45 minutes in the video but that’s really more dedicated to the resting and proofing time and not the actual folding and forming time.  If you do this recipe you need to start in the morning so maybe the weekend is best.  You are also going to get your hands dirty, so don’t even worry about breaking out the gigantic wooden spoon or spatula.  It’s important to use your hands so you can feel the dough come together.  You can’t do that with a spatula or spoon, you need to be touching it at all times so make sure there are no lumps.

Lastly, I want to talk about measuring for bread.  It is super important so if you are serious about this then I recommend investing in a metric scale.  Measuring in grams is as precise as it gets and you just can’t get that with ounces or measuring spoons or cups, so pick up a metric scale.  Homemade bread baking is a science and if you aren’t right on then you aren’t going to get the final product you need.  Guys I hope you enjoyed the video as well as inspiring you to get out there and bake some fresh homemade bread, there’s nothing like it!

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Author: 
Recipe type: side
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Bread should be light and fluffy on the inside with a beautiful hard crust on the outside. Learn How to Make a Homemade Artisan Country Loaf Bread Recipe!
Ingredients
  • 560 grams of 00 bread flour
  • 190 grams of whole wheat flour
  • 600 grams of water at 98° to 100°
  • 17 grams of Kosher salt
  • 3 grams of active yeast
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl combine with your hands the flours and water until completely mixed together. Let rest for 10 minutes.
  2. Next, sprinkle the salt and yeast overtop and mix it into the dough by pinching, stretching and folding the dough over for 4 to 5 minutes.
  3. Cover and rest the dough in a warm dark place for 15 to 20 minutes before folding the dough over 5 to 6 times.
  4. Cover and rest for 45 to 60 minutes and then fold the dough over 5 to 6 times again.
  5. Cover and rest for 2 hours or until it has tripled in size.
  6. Dust a clean surface with flour and place the dough onto it. Sprinkle the top with flour and fold the dough over in thirds 3 to 4 times and then begin to mold the dough into a ball by cupping around the dough into the bottom.
  7. Place the dough into a floured Benetton and cover and rest for 60 minutes.
  8. In the meantime, place a small Dutch oven pot into the oven on 475° for at least 30 minutes.
  9. Flip the dough right into the hot Dutch oven pot, cover it and return it to the oven and bake for 30 minutes
  10. Let cool for 20 to 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

 

Smoked Cheese Bean Dip Recipe and Crudité Platter

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Smoked Cheese Bean Dip Recipe and Crudité Platter
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of BUSH’S® Beans. The opinions and text are all mine.

I absolutely love this time of year, and not just because it’s the holiday season. You may not know this about me but I am a college football junkie, so when the bowl games get going then you can be sure to find me in front of the TV grazing on food all day, which makes this Smoked Cheese Bean Dip Recipe and Crudité Platter the absolute perfect at home tailgate recipe! Just because I love football and love to eat recipes like this one does not at all mean this bean dip wouldn’t be absolutely fabulous for your Christmas or holiday spread this year; After all, this recipe is jam packed with amazing smoky bean flavor!

It seems these days that almost all of the dips I make have bacon in them. I mean come on, what’s not to like, right? I used to always say that either you like bacon or you’re wrong haha. So, with that being said, of course I started off this recipe by cooking off some thick cut bacon. Not only will I use the bacon to finish off the bean dip with, but I also use the rendered bacon fat as well. I mean just think of two super simple things that go amazing together, pork and beans. Once you cook the bacon, you want to set the crispy bacon to the side while leaving the bacon fat in the pan. To help kick the flavor up a few notches I added in some onions and garlic and caramelized them to help bring out some of the natural sugars that are in those foods. Next up, beans!

When it comes to cooking with beans, I almost always use an assortment to help provide some complexity to my recipes as well as some diversity to the legume category. Thanks to BUSH’S® Beans and their wonderful array of beans, this recipe turned out spectacular. BUSH’S offers a bean for every dish and taste – from vegetarian, reduced sodium and organic to bolder flavors and varieties.

The awesome combination of Pinto and Cannellini Beans combined together with the smoked cheese, made for the most amazing flavors. BUSH’S Beans are also easy to prepare, just a simple rinse and they are ready to go!

I added in just a wee bit of water to help cook the beans once I added them to the pot with the caramelized onions and garlic so that they could break down a bit. The goal here is to really soften up the beans so that you can mash them. Now, you can simply transfer everything at this point over to a food processor or mash it by hand which is what I did. I kind of like a few chunks in my dips and don’t at all mind if there are a few whole beans in there or even some nice big chunks of caramelized onion. To me these little inconsistencies in the texture of the dip make it awesome!

Once you mash up those beans you want to toss it around with a bit of cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise to help make it creamy. From there you bake it up until the cheese is super melty and has almost a nice crisp brown to the top. While you’re baking up your smoked cheese bean dip, this is perfect timing to get all of your crudité ingredients together. If the word crudité scares you, don’t let it because it simply means raw assorted vegetables served up with a dip for an appetizer, which is what we’re doing here. For me, the more dippers the better but you have to be mindful of the season so since it’s winter you should be looking to root vegetables first. You simply want to avoid things like cucumbers, tomatoes, yellow squashes, green zucchinis, etc. Just think of things that grow in the ground really.

When it comes to making a crudité platter, the more colors and options the better. As you can see from the pictures the spread is incredibly colorful with tons of great choices. I also like to include warm pita bread on there because it really just ads a little something extra along with helping to make it easy to scoop out all of that goodness in the dip! Happy football watching and holiday season!

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Smoked Cheese Bean Dip Recipe and Crudité Platter

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Looking for a great appetizer this Holiday season? Try this beautiful and delicious Smoked Cheese Bean Dip Recipe and Crudité Platter!

  • Author: Chef Billy Parisi
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 45 mins
  • Yield: 10
  • Category: appetizer

Ingredients

For the Dip:

  • 6 strips of chopped thick cut bacon
  • ½ peeled and small diced yellow onion
  • 3 cloves of finely minced garlic
  • 2 cans of BUSH’S® Cannellini Beans, drained and rinsed 1 can of BUSH’S® Pinto Beans, drained and rinsed 1 cup each of shredded mozzarella and smoked white cheddar cheese + more for garnish
  • ¼ cup of sour cream
  • ½ cup of mayonnaise
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
  • optional garnishes: sliced green onions, and roasted peppers and onions

For the Crudite:

  • tri-colored baby carrots
  • radishes
  • mini bell peppers
  • cauliflower
  • roasted garlic
  • warm sliced pita
  • olives
  • sliced celery

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
  2. Add the bacon to a medium size pot over medium heat and cook until crispy. Remove the bacon and set aside.
  3. Next, add the onions and garlic to the pot with the rendered bacon fat and cook until browned.
  4. Drain the beans in a colander and place into the pot along with a ¼ cup of water and cook over medium heat for 5 to 8 minutes or until they begin to break down a bit.
  5. Mash with a hand masher and fold in the cheeses, sour cream, mayonnaise and salt and pepper.
  6. Transfer the mixture to a cast iron or enamel pan and top off with cheeses. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden brown.
  7. Garnish the top of the bean dip with optional garnishes and serve with crudité options.

 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bush Brothers & Company . The opinions and text are all mine.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bush Brothers & Company . The opinions and text are all mine.

 

Bone In Standing Ribeye Roast Recipe with Red Wine Pan Sauce

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Bone In Standing Ribeye Roast Recipe with Red Wine Pan Sauce

The holiday season is in full effect, which means I’m dissing the turkey and saying yes to beef, just like in this Bone In Standing Ribeye Roast Recipe with Red Wine Pan Sauce!  I say it in so many of my posts around this time of year, but I just can’t stand to eat another bite of turkey for the rest of the year following Thanksgiving.  It’s not that I don’t like turkey it’s just that I ate it for Thanksgiving and Christmas for 25 years, so lately it’s been all about the bone in standing ribeye roast recpie and I couldn’t be happier.  In addition, to be quite honest, I’m all for changing up Thanksgiving as well should you want to cook something up that doesn’t have wings.

When selecting your bone in ribeye roast, you should figure about 2 pounds per 1 bone.  While you’ll lose a few ounces because of the bone, you’ll still be left with at least 24 ounces of beef left per bone which should definitely feed at least 2 people.  So, in the end, a 4-bone rib roast should feed about 8 people just so you can get your calculations correct in case you were thinking it’s a bone per person.  There are several different grades of meat as well, including prime, choice, grass fed, you name it there’s a cow for it.  My personal thought is that rib roasts are expensive and your loading it up with herbs, garlic, salt and pepper, and slow cooking it, so no need to drop the bank on the most expensive cut of beef.  Don’t get me wrong, you definitely can, but I just think for the normal every day palette that it’s probably not worth it.

I always promote trussing any protein before roasting it for long periods of time in the oven.  This holds the cut of meat together and keeps all the juices inside and intact until you slice it.  The next thing is of course rubbing it down with some herbs and garlic.  It’s important to wash your herbs before using them.  Just think to your own garden in the summer time when you pull out some fresh chives and there is some dirt on it?  Same thing applies when buying fresh herbs, or any fresh produce, from the grocery store; It needs a rinse.  I’m absolutely in LOVE with my Franke gooseneck faucet with hose extension.  Honestly, I probably use the hose more than the actual faucet because I like to be able to move the water around as well as being able to maneuver it around the sink.  Not only does it look incredible in our kitchen but it also works to perfection.

After your rib roast is trussed and rubbed down, then hit it in the oven and let it roast until golden brown and rare in the middle.  Yes, I know rare seems to scare people, but for me I love leftovers and if you go past rare then chances are when you reheat it, you’re going to be well done which is no good.  When cooking in the oven you want to first get a nice brown on the outside by cooking it at high temps before turning the heat down and letting it slow cook.

With about 25 minutes or so before the ribeye roast is done cooking, I tossed some potatoes around in some of the leftover herbs and garlic mixture and put them right in the pan with the rib roast and once the potatoes are done, so is the bone in ribeye roast.  I can’t even begin to tell you how much we use the Franke Roller Mat.  I use it for drying dishes, as colander to spray off fresh produce with, and most importantly as a hot pad to protect my countertops with.  You want to remove the ribeye from the pan along with the potatoes and pop the pan onto the burner and cook some shallots and garlic.  Just a little note here but if there is some burnt on herbs in the pan, just simply discard them before cooking.  Deglaze the pan with wine, and feel free to take a little swig since cooking over the holiday can be stressful, and cook it until the wine is almost gone or “au sec.”  Add in some beef stock, season it up , and pour a bit over the rib roast and you’ve got yourself one serious Christmas feast!

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Bone In Standing Ribeye Roast Recipe with Red Wine Pan Sauce
Author: 
Recipe type: main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8
 
Get creative this holiday season by making this amazingly delicious Bone In Standing Ribeye Roast Recipe with Red Wine Pan Sauce!
Ingredients
  • 30 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • rosemary leaves from 2 sprigs
  • 6 garlic cloves + 2 finely minced
  • ½ peeled shallot + ½ finely minced
  • ⅓ cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • 8-pound bone-in standing rib roast, trussed
  • 2 pounds of assorted colored baby potatoes
  • ½ cup of red wine, cabernet sauvignon
  • 2 cups of beef stock
  • 2 ounces of unsalted butter
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 475°.
  2. Add the thyme, rosemary, 6 garlic cloves, ½ peeled shallot and olive oil to a food processor and pulse on high speed until it becomes like a paste.
  3. Add ¾ off the garlic and herb paste to the rib roast and apply it to all sides of the roast. Season the roast well on all sides with salt and pepper and place in a roasting pan.
  4. Bake at 475° for 25 minutes and then turn the heat down to 325° and cook for 70 minutes for a rare to medium rare internal temperature.
  5. With about 25 minutes left in the cooking process add the potatoes, the remaining garlic and herb paste, and salt and pepper to a large bowl and toss until coated.
  6. Add the potatoes to the pan with the rib roast and cook for 20 minutes.
  7. Remove the rib roast and potatoes form the pan and return the pan to a burner over medium-high heat.
  8. Add 2 finely minced cloves of garlic and ½ peeled and finely minced shallot to the pan and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes before deglazing with the red wine.
  9. Reduce the wine until it is almost gone and then add in the beef stock and cook for 3 to 4 minutes over high heat. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper and finish with butter.

 

Lemon Herb Flattened Chicken with Root Vegetable Panzanella Salad

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Lemon Herb Flattened Chicken with Root Vegetable Panzanella Salad

Let me first start by saying how much I’ve enjoyed creating these videos for you guys and this Lemon Herb Flattened Chicken with Root Vegetable Panzanella Salad may be one of my favorites.  I’ve only done a few of these long form videos, i.e. 10 mintues +, but still I like being able to share in more detail what and why I’m doing it instead of cramming so much cooking information into a 1 minute video.  No offense but I don’t carry any more about those and I’m not going to cook recipes that can be prepared in 20 minutes, that’s not my style and not what has gotten me to this point.  I have a culinary degree and 15 years of restaurant experience so I feel it’s my duty to share my story and cooking knowledge with you all and I hope in some way it inspires you to cook and enjoy every day in the kitchen.

Once you start appreciating every step of the cooking process you will truly learn to love cooking.  This honestly takes so much time and I never felt this way until about 5 to 6 years ago when I had time to focus on what I was cooking instead of tickets printing and a chef yelling at me to hurry up.  This Lemon Herb Flattened Chicken with Root Vegetable Panzanella Salad video is a little long but man everything about this recipe is so good.  The lemon herb chimichurri sauce is divine and the prep that goes into it amazing.  When you are preparing it stop and smell each herb.  Taste each one.  After chopping it, smell it and taste it again to see if it changed.  Take your time while doing this and enjoy it.  After you mix in the lemon and garlic, taste it, season it, and taste it again.  Set the lemon herb sauce to the side until it’s ready to be used.  I called it chimichurri just because to me it’s what it resembles the most, and also this stuff freezes really well if you’ve got any extra leftover.  Just a little FYI there.

For the flattened chicken, you need to remove the back bone.  Don’t be scared when you hear the word flattened chicken because it’s not really flattened, it’s just a chicken that is a little flatter because the backbone has been removed.  Think about it, when you buy a whole chicken it is called a whole chicken, so when it’s flat, it’s called flattened.   You can do this by using some really sharp kitchen shears or a meat cleaver.  If you are a traditionalist like me, save the back bone and freeze it because man you can make a delicious chicken stock with that long back bone piece so save it up.  Drizzle on some olive oil all over the chicken to help it brown and you want to season all sides of the flattened chicken with Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.  Also, drizzle on about half of the lemon herb chimichurri sauce all over the chicken.  As the flattened chicken cooks the herbs are going to infuse into the chicken making it so dang delicious.  You could actually marinate in the lemon herb mixture over night if you wanted to as well.  I personally like to use it more like a sauce at the end so that’s just my cup of tea but it does not have to be yours.  You want to roast this chicken at around 375° for a bit and then crank up the heat to help finish crisping up the skin before it’s ready to serve.

The root vegetable panzanella salad is super easy to make and honestly can be just about whatever you want.  I used a combo of French and multigrain bread but dang it use whatever artisanal homemade bread you’ve got lying around the house.  Remember when you bake it you just want it to be toasty on the outside and softer on the inside, you aren’t making crunchy croutons ok?!  Panzanella is Italian and the salad in it’s original form was so that everything in the kitchen got used up so if you had some leftover crunchy bread that was a few days old, you cut up and put into a salad with veggies and greens.  Obviously same concept here but my bread was fresh and needed to be toasted.  Toast it up and toss around with some seasonal greens.  It’s winter so things like chard, mustard greens, collards, kale and spinach are in season so try to stick with those!  The root vegetables can be an assortment of things.  I used beets, sweet potatoes and Brussel sprouts, but you can absolutely use things like carrots, celeriac root, turnips, parsnips, potatoes, etc, you name it you can use it if it’s a root vegetable.

Well that’s all I got, thanks for hanging out and listening to me blabber on about nothing.  Watch the video and be sure to subscribe to my channel.  Thanks!

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Lemon Chicken with Panzanella Salad
Author: 
Recipe type: main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Break out that loaf of artisan bread and learn how to make this delicious Lemon Herb Flattened Chicken with Root Vegetable Panzanella Salad!
Ingredients
For the Salad:
  • 1 thinly sliced sweet potato
  • 15-20 brussel sprouts, cut into quarters
  • 1 each quartered and thinly sliced golden and red beet
  • ½ loaf each French and multigrain loaf cut into 1” cubes
  • 4 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 head each of kale and spinach, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
  • optional garnishes: micro-greens and goat cheese
For the Dressing:
  • ⅔ cup of mayonnaise
  • ¼ cup of white balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon of grainy mustard
  • 2 tablespoons of honey
  • ¼ cup of olive oil
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
For the Chicken:
  • 3 tablespoons each finely minced fresh parsley, chives, thyme, rosemary and oregano
  • 4 finely minced cloves of garlic
  • zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • ½ cup of olive oil + 2 tablespoons
  • 1 whole chicken, backbone removed
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375°.
  2. Salad: Spread the sweet potatoes, Brussel sprouts and beets out on 2 ½ sheet trays lines with parchment paper and drizzle on 2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper.
  3. Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes or until light browned and tender. Cool completely.
  4. Spread the cubed bread out on a ½ sheet tray lined with parchment paper and drizzle on 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until slightly crunchy on the outside but soft in the center. Set aside.
  5. dressing: Whisk together all of the ingredients in a medium size bowl until combined. Cool before serving.
  6. Chicken: In a medium size bowl whisk together the herbs, garlic, lemon and olive oil until combined to make a chimichurri style sauce and set aside.
  7. Place the flattened chicken on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and cover it on all sides with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper, and ½ of lemon herb sauce. Bake skin side up for 50 minutes.
  8. After 25 minutes turn the chicken pan around so that it cooks evenly on all sides.
  9. After the 50 minutes is up turn the heat up to 425° and cook for 15 more minutes or until the skin is golden brown and cooked throughout.
  10. To Serve: Serve the chicken with the remaining lemon herb sauce and place the bread, greens and chilled root vegetables into a large bowl and dress with the desired amount of dressing, salt and pepper and optional garnishes micro-greens and goat cheese.
  11. Enjoy!

Vegetable Quesadillas Recipe with Chipotle Ranch Sauce

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of BUSH’S® Beans. The opinion and text are all mine.

I have a family that loves a variety of flavors and options so when we make quesadillas they get exactly what they are looking for.  Quesadillas are so versatile as you can literally put anything you want in them, so when I made this Vegetable Quesadillas Recipe with Chipotle Ranch Sauce, it was almost like making a quesadilla buffet and letting my family choose whatever they want to put in them.  After all, it’s always more fun to have an assortment of ingredients for your choosing when making just about anything.

I feel super lucky to have a built-in griddle to my stove top which makes it incredibly easy and fun to cook quesadillas on.  Just to be clear you definitely do not need a griddle to make quesadillas, a simple large frying pan will do. I’m always looking to incorporate more vegetables into my daily cooking, in fact I always try to do vegetable first before anything else.  It doesn’t always work out that way given the nature of my job but I am very conscience of what I put in my body, so when vegetable quesadillas came up, I jumped at the chance to make them.  You can incorporate so many different vegetables so it’s important to choose the right ones that go into quesadillas to give it the most robust flavors.  I leveraged the sweet potatoes as the protein, because they are kind of meaty, and then loaded the rest of the quesadilla up tons of yummy goodness.

Ever since I made my first quesadilla back in my line cook country club days back in good ole’ Eureka, Missouri, I was always taught to spread on a layer of refried beans first before putting anything else on.  Obviously from the video I am still living by what I was taught 20 years ago, gosh I’m getting old.  Now because I am leaning on only vegetables to bring about lots of flavor I used BUSH’S® Refried Black Beans.  WHOA, talk about flavor, this is the perfect bean to lay down on the quesadilla.  These beans helped to really take these quesadillas to the next level because of the amazing ingredients inside.  These guys are a MUST when making these or else I can’t guarantee you are going to get the same flavors I did.

The rest of the ingredients that go into this quesadilla are completely open.  For example, I used a combination of roasted red peppers, green peppers and onions, however you can add or swap out other ingredients.  You could add in chopped garlic, or replace the green peppers for jalapeños if you wanted some extra heat, this part is totally up to you.  I also used white rice but you could absolutely use brown rice or no rice.  In addition, you could add some leafy greens to these vegetable quesadillas such as kale or even baby spinach.  The point I’m trying to make here is have some fun and use ingredients you like.  To me the only staples to these veggie quesadillas are the beans and the sweet potatoes, everything else is fair game.

I also just want to be clear on one thing, these vegetable quesadillas are vegetarian not vegan, and because of that I piled the shredded Monterey jack cheese high on top before folding it over while making it.  Other great cheeses to use would include Colby jack cheese, queso fresco, cotija or Chihuahua cheese.  Even better yet since your family may be like mine and looking for options, you could provide a couple so they can select.

Last but not least, is the chipotle ranch sauce and it’s simply that, chipotles and ranch dressing.  You mince if a chipotle pepper in some adobo sauce and whisk it in to some ranch dressing.  If you like a lot of spice then I recommend cutting up an extra chipotle pepper to add in.  The ranch dressing can be homemade or store bought, completely up to you.

This Vegetable Quesadillas Recipe with Chipotle Ranch Sauce is a ton of fun and incredibly easy to make.  It’s a great recipe to do for your family or for entertaining.  Happy cooking!

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Vegetable Quesadillas Recipe with Chipotle Ranch Sauce
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8
 
Go vegetarian with this fun delicious meal for Vegetable Quesadillas Recipe with Chipotle Ranch Sauce and Sweet Potatoes!
Ingredients
For the Quesadillas:
  • 3 peeled and medium diced sweet potatoes
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 each seeded and julienne red and green bell peppers
  • 1 peeled and julienne yellow onion
  • 1 pound of shredded Monterey jack cheese
  • 1 15-ounce can of BUSH’S® Refried Black Beans.
  • 4 cups of cooked white rice
  • 2 ounces of unsalted butter, cut up
  • 8 large flour tortillas
  • kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
For the Sauce:
  • 1 finely minced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
  • 1 ½ cups of ranch dressing
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
  2. Spread out the sweet potatoes on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and drizzle on 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until lightly browned and tender. Set aside.
  3. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a large frying pan over high heat and saute the peppers and onions for 4 to 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Set aside.
  4. Sauce: add the chipotle pepper and ranch to a small bowl and mix until combined. Cool before serving.
  5. To prepare: Add a small amount of butter to a large frying pan or a griddle over medium heat.
  6. Add 1 tortilla and evenly spread the beans over ½ of the tortilla. Cover the beans with some white rice and top off with some peppers and onions, sweet potatoes and cheese.
  7. Fold the other half over and cook on both sides until browned, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
  8. Remove from the pan or griddle, slice and serve with sauce.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bush Brothers & Company. The opinions and text are all mine

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bush Brothers & Company . The opinions and text are all mine.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of BUSH’S® Beans. The opinion and text are all mine.

 

Leftover Turkey Gumbo Recipe with Shrimp and Brown Rice

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Leftover Turkey Gumbo Recipe with Shrimp and Brown Rice

Every year after thanksgiving I have a ton of leftover food.  Whether it be mashed potatoes, vegetables or turkey, it’s a mess of food that could feed the entire neighborhood.  I usually eat a few turkey sandwiches or make turkey pot pies, but man this year I’m totally going to change things up!  I’m going to make a turkey gumbo with shrimp, andouille, ham, and brown rice!  I’m sick of eating the same old thing, in fact if our family wasn’t so married to turkey I’d be eating a big ol’ prime rib roast!  What I need to do is start treating turkey like chicken and make whatever I want with it, instead of being tricked into thinking turkey only goes well under puff pastry with vegetables or in tetrazzini.  Turkey goes wonderful with so many other things so it’s time to get out of your comfort zone and into some tasty cooking.

It’s sometimes hard to make classic dishes because they are so near and dear to the ethnic or regional group that inspired those dishes that if you’re off by the slightest bit, you’re going to hear about it.  I love doing the classics, but I’ve also got personality, a sense of style and enough culinary chops to infuse my tone into it.  It’s ok if I’m a little off from the norm, I did it on purpose!  For example, gumbo is served with white rice.  Guess what, I don’t want to eat it with white rice, I want to eat it with brown rice.  Brown rice is better for you!  If you’ve only ever used Bob’s Red Mill for flours or gluten-free flours then you are missing out.  They have an assortment of wonderful grains from rice, to millet, to quinoa, you name it I’m positive they carry it.  We trust Bob as a main food source in our house so using their brown rice is a no brainer for us!  Be sure to cook the brown rice ahead of time and keep it warm before serving it along with the gumbo recipe.

There are several ways to make gumbo, whether it be a dark brown base, tomato base or more of a greenish tint, which is what my turkey gumbo recipe is.  Regardless of the color of gumbo, it all starts with a similar base and a dark roux to help bring out the color.  My turkey gumbo was green because of the use of gumbo filé which is finely ground sassafras leaves. The base of gumbo consists of onions, celery and green bell peppers.  I like adding color to the gumbo so I added in some red peppers along with some garlic for flavor.

You can make the roux in the same pot with the soup or in a separate pan and then simply add it in.  The best way I know how to do this is by first cooking the shrimp, remove them and then adding equal parts in weight butter and flour to the soup pot and cooking it until it becomes dark brown.  Remove the roux, add in a little oil and quickly sear the vegetables before adding in most of the other ingredients.  You have to be careful when making gumbo because you have very delicate protein in there, shrimp.  If you over cook shrimp it literally turns to mush and it is honestly pretty gross once it gets to this stage so be sure to add back in the shrimp at the end when you add in the okra.  While traditionally you would use crawfish in the recipe, and you absolutely can, I had a hard time finding it and after going to 4 grocery stores I settled on shrimp – what can I say I live in Chicago and crawfish isn’t in abundance.  Don’t worry though because the shrimp in this turkey gumbo is fantastic!

Once the veggies are tender, add in the gumbo filé along with the leftover cut up turkey from Thanksgiving, leftover ham, andouille sausage and chicken or shrimp stock.  I used chicken stock in my recipe and if you have a little shrimp stock lying around then for sure use it!  Bring the soup to a boil and then add in your dark roux and stir until it becomes thick.  Turn the heat down and finish it up with okra, the cooked shrimp we set aside, fresh thyme and parsley and simmer it over low heat until it is ready to be eaten alongside some cooked brown rice!

I added a few garnishes to the turkey gumbo such as crispy prosciutto, lemon zest and chopped thyme and parsley for a little color.  Hope you enjoy it and hope this helps get out of the same leftover thanksgiving rut that I’m always in as well!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!


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Gumbo from Bayou Country
Author: 
Recipe type: Soup
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 1½ gallons
 
Change up your thanksgiving leftover routine by making this amazing Leftover Turkey Gumbo Recipe with Shrimp and Brown Rice!
Ingredients
For the Roux:
  • 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
  • 1¼ cups of Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Flour
For the Gumbo:
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 pound of shelled 30/40 shrimp
  • 2 peeled and small diced small yellow onions
  • 5 small diced stalks of celery
  • 4 finely minced cloves of garlic
  • 2 each seeded and small diced red and green bell peppers
  • 1 tablespoon of gumbo filé
  • 3 cups of cooked chopped leftover turkey
  • 2 cups of cooked medium diced leftover ham
  • 8 ounces of cooked sliced andouille sausage
  • 96 ounces of chicken stock
  • 1 pound of sliced frozen okra
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
  • 4 cups of cooked Bob’s Red Mill Brown Rice
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
  • Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce to taste
Instructions
  1. Roux: In a large pot add in the butter and flour and make a dark roux over medium-low heat, about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the dark roux and set aside.
  2. Next, add in 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pot and cook the shrimp over medium heat until they are just about cooked and then remove them and chill.
  3. Next, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pot and sear the onions, celery, garlic and peppers for 5 to 6 minutes or until tender.
  4. Stir in the gumbo filé and then add in the turkey, ham, sausage and chicken stock and bring it to a boil over high heat.
  5. Once boiling stir in the roux and continue to stir until it becomes thick.
  6. Finish by adding the okra, thyme, parsley and shrimp and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes before serving.
  7. Serve the gumbo over the cooked brown rice and garnish with optional garnishes: crispy prosciutto ham, lemon zest, chopped parsley and thyme.

Homemade Sweet Potato Pie Recipe with Marshmallow Merengue

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When I was a kid I wasn’t too adventurous when it came to trying new foods, and the holidays were filled with things I had never heard of.  We spent thanksgiving and Christmas at my grandparents’ house and we always hung out and ate in the basement.  When it came to dessert time there were the usuals, apple pie, pumpkin pie, ice cream, etc.  However, I do remember one time someone, can’t quite recall who it was (maybe my Uncle Jack), who brought a sweet potato pie.  I couldn’t quite grasp the concept of a potato pie because to this point all I had been used to seeing was a sweet potato baked or sliced up and cooked.  It took several years after that for me to even try it.  After that first bite, I was so mad at myself for consistently passing on such a delicious dessert for all this time.

I like sweet potato pie so much that I won’t even touch pumpkin pie if it’s around.  To me it is light years better than pumpkin pie and so much more flavorful, and with the marshmallow merengue on top you will be floored at the wonderful combinations in this homemade pie.  There are a few ways to prepare the sweet potatoes.  Some some folks boil them, but I prefer to bake them.  I always wash my produce no matter what, even if I end up peeling it.  My chef used to tell me that there are people just like you and me packing up these fruits and vegetables so it’s in my best interest to give them a rinse first.  With the Franke roller mat it has become incredibly easy to wash my produce.  The mat is malleable so you can roll it right over the top of your sink and from there use a hose extender or faucet to rinse your veggies.  If you have small fruit you can put in a colander and rinse it while it rests on the roller mat.  I like doing this because I’m tall so anything that can help save my back from constantly bending over, then I’m game.

While the sweet potatoes are cooking it’s the perfect time to make the crust.  I would say the crust, no matter the filling, is probably my favorite thing to eat in a pie.  It just brings about so much balance and a little saltiness to the pie filling making it perfect.  Not sure who invented the pie crust, but THANK YOU!  Since a pie crust only takes about 5 minutes to make I mold it to the pan and pop it right into the refrigerator to let the dough rest until it’s time to fill and bake.

Once the potatoes are done cooking you want to peel them and mash them.  You can absolutely do all this in a standing mixer, using a hand mixer or a potato mill, which is what I do.  Sweet potatoes mash pretty easy so don’t worry about being able to get them broken down.  Once you mix in all the goodies you fill up the pie crust and bake it for about an hour until it becomes firm on top.  Once things go in the oven I usually try to clean up a bit and get caught up in the kitchen before doing something else.  That same roller mat that was used to wash my potatoes became a drying rack for my dishes while I wiped down the kitchen.  Seriously this thing is AMAZING!

After I cleaned up I had plenty of time to make the marshmallow merengue, which will go on top of the sweet potato pie after it is done baking.  You want to wait until there is about 5 minutes left in the baking process before starting this since you want to put it on top immediately and get it right back in the oven.  Once your egg whites have reached medium peaks you fold in the marshmallow whip and mix it until it reaches stiff peaks.  This is really important for how I styled my pie with the tall little points sticking up out of the pie.  I used the Franke roller mat as a trivet for the hot pie after I pulled it out of the oven to keep my countertops safe.  You definitely do not have to do what I did for the topping so please feel free to add on how you feel comfortable.  Pop the pie back in the oven for a few more minutes or until the merengue is browned and you are good to go!  Sweet potato pie is delicious warm or cold, so take your pick!


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Homemade Sweet Potato Pie Recipe with Marshmallow Merengue
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 1 pie
 
Leave the pumpkin pie at home this year and try this amazing Homemade Sweet Potato Pie Recipe with Marshmallow Merengue!
Ingredients
For the Crust:
  • 1¼ cups of flour
  • ½ teaspoons of Kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • ½ cups of ice cold unsalted butter, cut up
  • ¼ cup of ice cold water
For the Filling:
  • 3 large sweet potatoes, baked and skins removed
  • 1 cup of brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter
  • ½ cup of whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon of nutmeg
For the Marshmallow Merengue:
  • 3 egg whites
  • ¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar
  • ¼ cup of sugar
  • 1 8 ounce jar of marshmallow whip
Instructions
  1. Sweet Potatoes: Wash the potatoes and bake at 375 for 60 minutes.
  2. Crust: Add the ingredients, except for the water, into a food processor and pulse until it becomes like a meal. Slowly drizzle in the water until the dough begins to slightly come together.
  3. Remove the dough and roll it out on a clean flour dusted surface so that it will fit into a 9” pie tin.
  4. Form the dough to the pie tin and trim any access. Chill in the refrigerator until the sweet potatoes are done baking.
  5. Filling: Peel the sweet potatoes and add them to a large bowl along with all the other ingredients and mix until combined.
  6. Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake for 60 to 65 minutes at 375° or until it becomes firm on top and in the center.
  7. Merengue: While the pie is cooking add the egg whites, cream of tartar and sugar to a standing mixer with the whisk attachment and whisk on high speed until they’ve reached medium peaks, about 3 to 4 minutes.
  8. Next, add in the marshmallow whip and mix on high speed until it reached stiff peaks.
  9. When the pie is done cooking add the marshmallow merengue to the top of the pie in any decoration that you’d like and bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until they are browned.
  10. Serve the pie warm or cool and enjoy!

 

New England Clam Chowder Recipe with Fresh Steamed Clams

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New England Clam Chowder Recipe with Fresh Steamed Clams

I am back, and in my fanciest Boston fishmonger shellfish digging outfit fully equipped with hipster sweater, denim apron and of course a beanie for my dome.  Of course if I’m going to play the part I’ve gotta dress the part right?  In the words of famous coach, Lout Holtz, “When you look good you feel good, and when you feel good you play good.”  Not only was it fashionable it was also incredibly functional because outta nowhere winter has most recently smacked us here in Chicago as it’s gone from 75° to 35°.  There is literally no fall, no spring, only summer or winter.  However, I have heard it said by locals that there are 4 seasons here in Chicago: summer, winter, construction and traffic… Yeah NOT funny to the outsiders lemme tell you.  So, as I was saying now that I’m nice and toasty on this cold day, it’s time to bust out a way oversized pot of New England Clam Chowder.

Truth be told I’ve been trying to go back through my website to redo some stanky hideously old pictures and recipes that are in some major need of updating.  A lot of these recipes are 8 years believe it or not that carried over from my first site, fixmyrecipe.com back in 2009.  That’s right, I’ve been showing this mug on camera for over 8 years now… Thanking God every day that I still get to do what I love.  Ok enough with the blabbering, let’s get into this New England Clam Chowder Recipe.

Ok wait, one more…  Name this movie! “New England Clam Chowder… Is that the white or the red?  I never remember that… White?  YES!!!”  No, it’s not from Greatest Catch, it’s from Ace Ventura Pet Detective when Jim Carrey was trying to meet up with his buddy who set up shop in an underground room at a heavy metal club.  I only tell you all of this because New England style clam chowder is white and the folks down south in Manhattan make the red chowder, just in case there were any hang ups.  Both clam chowders are actually made pretty similarly except in the red there is no cream, and there is an addition of tomatoes.  I think both are delicious but if I had to choose I’d go with the white because it’s soup so it’s hot and meant to eat in cooler weather, plus the cream makes it a bit heartier.

All clam chowders start with some bacon, so I went all in with 1 pound of super thick cut smoked bacon.  I know it seems like a lot but I literally made 2 gallons of soup – sorry I’m Italian and it’s in our blood to try and feed the neighborhood in addition to our families.  Cook the bacon until the lardons are crispy brown and the fat is rendered.  You can also remove a ½ cup of the bacon fat just to be safe as well.  From there you want to set the bacon aside and sweat your vegetables.  It’s ok if the onions caramelize a bit here you really just want to make sure they are tender before adding in the flour.

It’s important to make a roux at this point in the clam chowder because this is what will thicken it up.  Roux is equal parts weight fat and flour and doing this makes it hard to gauge because I really have no clue how much 1 pound of rendered bacon fat weighs, but after it was said it done it ate up 1 ¼ cups of flour.  I’ve been doing this long enough that I know when a roux is good to go.  If for some crazy reason your soup does not get thick when it comes to a boil make a slurry, which is corn starch and water mixed together, and mix into your soup.   That is a total worst-case scenario, but wanted to provide it just in case because you never know.  Once your roux is made, add in the cream sherry and then your stocks, clams and herbs.  Bring this sucker to a boil to ensure it becomes nice and thick before adding the potatoes in and cream.  Season it up and serve it up with some fresh seared and steamed clams for one tasty meal!!  That’s all I got you guys, till next week!!

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New England Clam Chowder Recipe with Fresh Steamed Clams
Author: 
Recipe type: soup
 
When it's cold out then it's soup time in my house, and this huge pot of New England Clam Chowder with Fresh Steamed Clams hit the spot!
Ingredients
For the Chowder:
  • 1 pound of sliced thick cut bacon
  • 2 peeled and small diced yellow onions
  • 4 finely minced cloves of garlic
  • 1 bunch of medium diced celery
  • 1 ¼ cups to 1 ½ cups of flour
  • ½ cup of cream cherry
  • 64 ounces each of clam and chicken stock
  • 40 ounces of chopped clams in juice
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 pounds each medium diced red and russet potatoes
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh thyme
  • 2 cups of heavy cream
  • Kosher salt, white pepper, Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce to taste
For the Clams:
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 15 little-neck clams
  • 1 cup of chardonnay wine
  • 4 finely minced cloves of garlic
  • 1 teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme
  • 2 ounces of unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
  • Kosher salt and red pepper flakes to taste
Instructions
  1. In a very large pot over medium heat, render the bacon.
  2. Once brown remove the bacon and about ½ cup of the bacon fat.
  3. Add in the onions, garlic and celery and sweat for 5 to 6 minutes.
  4. Stir in the flour until combined
  5. Next pour in the sherry, clams, clam stock, chicken stock and bay leaves and bring to a boil or until thick.
  6. Once thick, add in the potatoes, thyme, cream, ½ of the cooked bacon and seasonings and simmer over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Keep warm.
  7. Clams: Add oil the a medium size saute pan over high heat and add in the clams and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Flames may appear as there will be water leaking out from the clams into the oil – turn down the heat if this happens.
  8. Add in the wine, garlic and thyme and cover and cook for 3 to 5 minutes on high heat or until the clams open.
  9. Finish the clams with butter, parsley, salt and red pepper flakes.
  10. Pour a bowl of chowder and garnish with cooked clams, fresh thyme leaves, chopped parsley, cooked bacon, oyster crackers and red pepper flakes.

 

Homemade Rye Bread Recipe with Cranberry Walnut Butter

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Homemade Rye Bread Recipe with Cranberry Walnut Butter

Many of you don’t know this, but I actually went to culinary school 18 years ago to become a pastry chef.  It’s hard to imagine myself looking back as being a pastry chef…  Where would I have worked? What city would I be living in? Would I still be in the restaurant industry?  A lot of what if’s, but one thing is for certain and that’s that I never lost passion for baking.  I actually don’t even have a ton of experience with it since I went more of the general cooking route instead of a specific culinary focus, but every time I do bake I enjoy myself.  I actually started on the salads and dessert station, or as we call it, “garde manger,” just after I retired from dish washing :-).  I loved decorating desserts and making bountiful salads and even getting to make some homemade breads, but I dang sure didn’t have the patience for it once I got to culinary school.  I mean it takes so much time to make cakes, bake cakes, cool cakes, decorate cakes, I mean dude there is a reason pastry chefs get started at like 3 am on their job.  Fast forward 18 years and now I have a serious gratitude for it.

Baking is a labor of love so you have to appreciate everything about the process, and this Homemade Rye Bread Recipe with Cranberry Walnut Butter takes about 15 ½ hours from start to finish so if you don’t like baking you better dig deep or just simply find another recipe haha.  There is about 14 hours of down time so don’t get worried that you are going to have to be in the kitchen for that amount of time.  The reason this homemade rye bread recipe takes so long is because rye flour takes significantly more time to rise then that of a normal artisan bread recipe.  Rye flour is dense and the grain is bigger so it’s harder for the yeast to penetrate it to assist in it rising.

When it comes to making bread, the flour is everything and there is no one I trust more than Bob’s Red Mill.  They’ve been making flour for quite some time and Bob’s commitment of milling the best flours around makes me a believer in everything they do.  We got a chance to meet Bob this past summer and at age 90 he seems to have as much passion as ever to what he does on a daily basis and we couldn’t be prouder to use his products in our home.  If you’re wondering what Bob is like, he’s similar to your grandpa who’s well-traveled and has a ton of amazing stories to share.  Yeah, we are fans J.  If you wanted to make the densest bread on earth you could certainly just use rye flour, but because I want this thing to have some air pockets I used equal parts weight of Bob’s Red Mill Dark Rye Flour and Artisan Bread flour to make this homemade rye bread recipe.  Just trust me on this and use both or you are going to drive yourself nuts when using just rye flour.

I’ve sometimes struggles making breads in the past as the dough seems tough during the rising process.  It almost seems as if there wasn’t enough water when kneading the dough…  I can’t put my finger on what exactly happened but if anything is a science when it comes to cooking it is hands down baking bread.  Going back to my culinary school roots, there is a reason everything was measured in grams and it’s because if its preciseness.  When you can get down to the very gram then you know your measurements are on point, so that’s exactly what I did in this homemade rye bread recipe.

Believe it or not I didn’t even knead this bread, I just simply mixed it and let it rest for 14 hours before forming the bread and letting it rest again.  You could almost call this rye bread recipe, no knead rye bread but maybe we’ll save that for another date.

The last thing I did to finish off this bread was I served it up with an absolutely delicious cranberry walnut butter that is simple and so in season it should be at Starbucks.  Well that’s all I got for now, but I truly hope this bread and this Homemade Rye Bread Recipe with Cranberry Walnut Butter inspires you to put your baking hat on and get after it!


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Homemade Rye Bread Recipe with Cranberry Walnut Butter
Author: 
Recipe type: side dish
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 1 loaf
 
Put your bakers hat on and learn how to make an amazing Homemade Rye Bread Recipe with Cranberry Walnut Butter!
Ingredients
For the Bread
  • 420 grams of warm water
  • 50 grams of dark molasses
  • zest of 1 orange
  • 1 ½ teaspoons of caraway seeds
  • 1 ½ teaspoons of yeast
  • 270 grams of Bob’s Red Mill Dark Rye Flour
  • 270 grams of Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour
  • 10 grams of Kosher salt
For the Butter:
  • 1 pound of softened unsalted butter
  • ½ cup of roughtly chopped dried cranberries
  • ½ cup of roughly chopped walnuts
  • 3 tablespoons of honey
  • Kosher salt to taste
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl whisk together the water, molasses, orange zest, caraway seeds and yeast until combined. Set aside.
  2. In a separate bowl whisk together the flours and salt and mix it into the liquid bowl until combined.
  3. Let rest covered in plastic for 14 hours.
  4. Preheat the oven to 475° with a Dutch oven pot in it.
  5. Next, sprinkle some flour onto a clean surface and place the risen dough onto the surface.
  6. Sprinkle a little more flour on it and make it flat. Next, simply fold it in half, and then fold it in half again until it becomes a square.
  7. Using both hands form the dough by starting at the top and cupping it underneath pushing some of the dough under to make it form a round shape.
  8. Place the dough into a Benetton heavily dusted with flour, or a wooden bowl dusted with flour, cover and let rest for 1 hour.
  9. next, flip the dough over right into the hot Dutch oven pot in the oven and score the top with a bread knife if you desire.
  10. Bake for 30 minutes covered and then remove the cover and bake for a further 15 minutes.
  11. Cool the dough until room temperature. Slice and serve.
  12. Butter: Add the butter to a standing mixer with the whip attachment and beat on high speed until the butter becomes light and fluffy, about 5 to 7 minutes.
  13. Next fold in the cranberries, walnuts, honey and salt and serve alongside the bread.

 

 

Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats Recipe with Homemade Granola

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Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats Recipe with Homemade Granola

Ever since I read an article with one of my favorite actors, Ryan Reynolds, I absolutely LOVE steel cut oats!  I’d actually never had them before reading the article but once I had them I was hooked.  Steel cut oats are meaty, chewy beyond delicious, and you better believe my friends over at Bob’s Red Mill make the very best.  Don’t believe me?  Just ask Bob himself who will let you know that Bob’s Red Mill steel cut oats is award winning and considered some of the best oatmeal in the world.  Steel cut oats are slightly different than regular rolled oats so cooking them is a bit different.

If you’re from the south, then you absolutely understand the love and passion that goes into making grits, well the same thing applies to steel cut oats.  They take about 30 minutes or so to cook from start to finish and if you want them to cook a bit faster then I recommend you soak them at night.  That’s what I did when making this Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats Recipe with Coconut Milk and Homemade Granola.  I cover the oats until there is about 2 inches of water over the top and simply let it sit at room temperature overnight.  Come morning time I drain them and rinse them and then begin the cooking process.

When it comes to cooking oatmeal it’s wise to constantly stir throughout the process so nothing sticks to the pot, and if my old culinary instructor were around you would have to use a wooden spoon and stir in the same direction.  Now I’m not that strict but one thing I notice when stirring over a stove is that I have one hand on my hip and the other is stirring.  If you’re laughing it is 100% guaranteed that you do the same thing, you just don’t realize it.  Next time you are stirring something while standing over the stove check yourself to see if you are :-).

Since it’s October and pumpkin just about goes into everything, I figured I would fold a bit of it into these cooked steel cut oats.  I heated up some canned organic pumpkin with a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon to help add some nice flavor into it.  I love just about everything pumpkin so I used an entire can when making this Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats Recipe with Coconut Milk and Homemade Granola.  I also made quite a bit of cooked steel cut oatmeal so it by no means was overpowering.  While I love pumpkin, I’m also not one of those maniacs who sits outside their favorite coffee shops in July waiting for pumpkin lattes.

I wanted to make this recipe vegan so instead of finishing off the cooked steel cut oats with butter or cream, I folded in some coconut milk and oh boy did it make it super creamy and delicious.  After that is when I put in the pumpkin, and adjusted the flavor with some maple syrup, honey and cinnamon to get to that perfect balance.  I mean dude honestly I felt like I was eating pumpkin pie it’s seriously that good, except there was no whip cream or sugar!

I thought it would be really cool to make some homemade granola and sprinkle it on top to give it a nice crunch.  I’ve actually only made homemade granola a handful of times and every single time that I do I always wonder why I don’t make it more often.  I used a combo of Bob’s Red Mill rolled oats and coconut flakes along with some pepitas, pecans, dried cherries, coconut oil, vanilla, maple syrup and honey.  You just combine all of those things, spread it out on a sheet tray and bake it for 15 minutes and you’re done.  If you’ve never made homemade granola you should honestly do it, it’s really fun and incredibly rewarding when you find out just how good it is.

One last secret for you… Pumpkin goes RIDICULOUSLY WELL with amaretti cookies!  So in light of that I crumbled some up and added some to the top of the pumpkin steel cut oats along with some orange zest.  Oranges go great with pumpkin as well.


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Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats Recipe with Homemade Granola
Author: 
Recipe type: Breakfast
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4 to 6
 
Soak your oats over night to make this extremely tasty Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats Recipe with Homemade Granola and Coconut Milk!
Ingredients
For the Oatmeal:
  • 3 cups of Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats + 6 cups of water for soaking
  • 4 cups of water
  • 1 can of coconut milk
  • 1 can of pumpkin
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg
  • 2 tablespoons of honey
  • 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
For the Granola:
  • ½ cup of chopped dried cherries
  • 2 cups of Bob’s Red Mill rolled oats
  • ½ cup of Bob’s Red Mill coconut flakes
  • ⅓ cup of pepitas
  • ⅓ cup of chopped pecans
  • 2 ½ tablespoons of melted coconut oil
  • 2 tablespoons each of maple syrup and honey
  • ½ teaspoon of vanilla
For the Toppings:
  • crushed amaretti cookies
  • orange zest
Instructions
  1. Oatmeal: Add the oats and water to a pot and soak over night.
  2. Drain the oats and rinse and then add to a medium size pot along with the 4 cups of water.
  3. Stir over low heat until the oats crack and are chewy and tender. Finish with coconut milk, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey and maple syrup. Keep warm.
  4. Granola: Preheat the oven to 275°.
  5. In a large bowl combine all of the ingredients and lay flat on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly toasted. Let cool to room temperature before breaking apart.
  6. Top the oatmeal off with some granola, crushed amaratti cookies and orange zest. Serve hot!

 

Filet Mignon Recipe with Brussel Sprouts and Bacon

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Filet Mignon Recipe with Brussel Sprouts and Bacon

I recently was in Miami, or Ft Lauderdale rather, for ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) and did a couple of live demos showing off the Franke Chef Center while making this Filet Mignon Recipe with Brussel Sprouts and Bacon.  I made a total of 2 recipes between the 2 days I was there and the other one you can check out on my site at Baked Apple Pie Cobblers with Brandy Caramel Recipe. While the desserts always go over well during live demonstration settings, this Filet Mignon Recipe with Brussel Sprouts and Bacon by far stole the stage.

With every recipe I make, I’m always in search of the perfect balance.  Does it have the perfect amount of saltiness, deliciousness, sweetness, acidity…  It’s really hard to take 1 bite of something and discover all of the flavors in it, but some of the best chefs in the world are able to accomplish it.  While I’ve been able to do it a few times, I more look to take a few different things from a dish that when combined make the perfect balance of flavors.  I know very well that bleu cheese goes phenomenally well with steak, Brussel sprouts and bacon, I also know that steak goes really well with soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, as does bacon and Brussel sprouts.  With all of those flavor profiles in mind, I came up with this Filet Mignon Recipe with Brussel Sprouts and Bacon.  When you get a fork full of the steak, bleu cheese butter, sautéed Brussel sprouts, bacon and balsamic-soy sauce it’s like a flavor explosion in your mouth.  All of those tastes married together makes for an amazing combination on your palette.  I know this was a lot of chef speak, but I wanted to try and break down what we think of before we create a recipe.

Believe it or not this recipe has a total of 12 ingredients, and that includes oil, butter and salt and pepper, so really it’s like :-).  I say this because what a gourmet meal this is to serve up for date night, or for friends and family, with only few ingredients?  Whenever I get into the kitchen, it always starts with prepping everything first and then cooking.  The first thing to get sliced up are the Brussel sprouts and thanks to my Franke Roller Mat it made it really easy to get them washed up.  We use the Franke roller mat in a myriad of ways from using it as a colander to wash off fresh produce, as a dish dryer and as a hot pad to keep my counter tops safe.

I use a mandolin slicer to shave the Brussel sprouts nice and thin.  Brussel sprouts can be a bit bitter at times so shaving them thin sort of chills those flavors out as well as for allowing them to cook faster.  The ultimate compliment to Brussel sprouts is bacon, which is honestly an awesome compliment to just about anything, including for turning a bad day into a good one J.  Crisp up some bacon and then set it to the side so that you can roast up those shaved Brussel sprouts in the rendered bacon fat.  Talk about flavor?!  They only cook for about 5 to 7 minutes, because they are shaven so thin, so you then want to add back in the crispy bacon along with some sliced almonds for a little crunch.  While this whole veggie dish is going on you can absolutely be reducing the balsamic-soy glaze over medium heat until it becomes thick.  It takes about 20 minutes or so to get it to the right consistency.  Just simply set it aside until you are ready to use it.

Making the bleu cheese butter is as simple as that, mix together bleu cheese and butter.  The butter helps cut the tang from the bleu cheese and gives it a bit of melting power after placed on a hot steak so that it coats it to perfection.

The last thing on the list is cooking up the filet mignon recipe.  While at ICFF I used a bit of thyme and garlic in the pan while sautéing the filet mignon.  You can do that same process if you’d like or just sear them to temperature in a hot pan with olive oil and butter, up to you.  I recommend basting the steak constantly after you flip it until your desired internal temperature is achieved.  Simply let the steak rest on a plate for 3 to 4 minutes before serving it up.  Enjoy!


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Filet Mignon Recipe with Brussel Sprouts and Bacon
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2-4
 
Impress your guests or your significant other with this delicious seasonal dish for Filet Mignon Recipe with Brussel Sprouts and Bacon!
Ingredients
For the Brussel Sprouts:
  • 10 strips of chopped bacon
  • 4 cups of packed thinly shaven Brussel sprouts, about 20-25
  • ½ cup of sliced almonds
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
For the Steak and Toppings:
  • 1 cup of balsamic vinegar
  • ⅓ cup of soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of honey
  • 1 stick of softened unsalted butter + 2 ounces
  • ½ cup of crumbled bleu cheese
  • 2 8-ounce filet mignon steaks
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Brussels: Add the bacon to a large pan over medium-high heat and cook until crisp.
  2. Remove the lardons and add the Brussel sprouts to the pan with the rendered bacon fat and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly browned.
  3. Add the bacon back into the pan along with the almonds, salt and pepper. Keep warm.
  4. Balsamic-Soy Sauce: Add the balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar and honey to a medium size pot and cook over medium-low heat until it reaches a temperature of 216 °. or until it becomes thick like a reduced balsamic vinegar glaze. Set aside.
  5. Bleu Cheese Butter: In a medium size bowl whisk together the bleu cheese and 1 stick of softened butter until combined. Chill before serving.
  6. Steak: Season the steak on all sides with salt and pepper.
  7. Add the olive oil to a medium size sauté pan over medium-high heat until it lightly smokes and sear the filet mignons. Add in the 2 ounces of butter and baste the steak constantly until it is browned on all sides and the desired internal temperature is achieved, about 5 to 6 minutes per side for medium-rare. Remove the steak and rest on a plate for 3 to 4 minutes before serving.
  8. Serve the steak alongside the Brussel sprouts. Top off with bleu cheese butter and a drizzle of balsamic-soy sauce. Note: there will be some sauce left over.