A simple idea that I gave a try and will regularly insert for a quick meal or snack idea. This would also be a great dish to take to a party. You could use store bought dough or a canister but I made the dough using the same pizza recipe as we used for previous pizzas (Thai Chicken, Tomato Mushroom Pesto, Grilled Crab Pesto)

Starts with the dough as mentioned above. Then roll it out as you would a pizza but make it a bit more rectangular and start to line the pepperoni up and sprinkle cheese.

Then start to roll up. I folded the ends in about halfway up and being that this was the first time that I tried this I sort of learned along the way, which was not too difficult.

I then sprayed the rolls with a bit of oil and dusted with garlic powder and oregano.

Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes checking along the way. Again I learned along the way with the timing and temp and suggest to check too early instead of too late.

G

]]> http://starvingkitten.com/2012/07/22/pepperoni-roll/feed/ 1 Eileen IMG_5754.JPG IMG_5747.JPG IMG_5749.JPG IMG_5748.JPG IMG_5750.JPG IMG_5751.JPG IMG_5752.JPG IMG_5754.JPG http://starvingkitten.com/2012/07/08/tuna-and-white-bean-salad-in-avocado-cups/ http://starvingkitten.com/2012/07/08/tuna-and-white-bean-salad-in-avocado-cups/#comments Sun, 08 Jul 2012 23:13:27 +0000 G & E https://starvingkitten.wordpress.com/?p=4326 Continue reading →]]>

We have these free wall calendars at work and every month a recipe is showcased along with a large picture of it. After staring at this recipe/picture of this recipe for the last month I decided to make it. I love the main ingredients in this and figured this would be right up my alley and it sure was. It also took less than 10 minutes to make this from start to finish, which can’t be beat AND you don’t have to cook anything or heat up an oven so it is very heat-wave friendly as well.

The salad is composed of cannellini or white beans, tuna fish (from a can), red onion and tomato.

To this mixture, add olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.

Next, prepare your avocado cups by carefully guiding a knife between the border of the avocado skin and flesh. Then use a large spoon to wiggle it out.

Then pour the salad into the cups- its ok if it gets messy!

This was so light and refreshing! The lemon juice and vinegar help a lot with that and the creaminess of the avocado goes along well with the other textures here.

I ended up just cutting up the avocado and eating a piece with every bite of the salad. This was awesome!

-E

Recipe for Tuna and White Bean Salad in Avocado Cups

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First, the peanut sauce. If you compare this pizza to a more traditional red sauce and cheese pizza, this is the red sauce. This is going to be the base of the pizza and give it great flavor. The sauce is a combination of peanut butter, brewed tea, rice vinegar, soy sauce, chili oil, grated ginger and honey. For the chicken, we boiled two breasts and shredded them. Once the chicken is shredded, add some of the peanut sauce to coat it. We also made the dough according to this recipe and it turned out great. Spread a layer of sauce out onto the pizza dough.  Next, add a layer of chicken. and then the cheese. We used shredded Italian-blend from Penn-Mac. Any cheese will do. Bake at 425 degrees, for about 8-10 minutes. Keep an eye on it! You are looking for a nice golden brown crust and for the cheese to be bubbling. (Greg also threw on some jalapenos)   Top the pizza with grated carrot, cilantro and chopped peanuts.

Well as you can see, this turned out to be very good. The flavors are complex, yet nice and clean. There is a good textural variety as well. You will enjoy this one!

-E

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It started with this beauty of a piece of salmon.  This was a little over a pound though this picture makes it look huge.  Since the fish had skin on the bottom side and it is such a mess to try to take the flesh off of the skin when it is raw, I had this ingenious idea!  I got the grill really hot then put the fish skin side down, turned the flame off, and closed the lid for just 2-3 minutes.  This was just enough to cook the skin so that it easily separated from the meat which could then be chopped up, basically raw to form the cakes.

The bottom of the meat that was attached to the skin did cook a little bit, but it didn’t really matter and there was no messy wasted meat left on the skin.  The rest of the ingredients were microplaned ginger, green onions, and egg.  You could add breadcrumbs but we decided to go without them for a more pure taste and carb cutting and it worked out just fine.  The cakes had no problem staying firm and formed throughout.

I then mixed this by hand and formed into 4 cakes or patties.

 Then send them into a hot pan with a thin layer of oil.  There should be enough oil to cover the bottom and you could make it deeper for more of a fried texture all over but just a covering of the bottom is good enough for me.

Flip after about 4-5 minutes.  You could flip earlier for a pinker, rarer center but I like a browned crust on the outside.

Garnish with some lemon and serve!  We threw a few raw green onions on top too.

G

I went to Penn Mac where many of our ingredients come from and got colby for it’s color, taste, and price.  I also got pancetta which is a little costly but is spread across a whole tray that feeds a dozen or more people.  I have never used pancetta before, but Eileen used it before in a tomato vodka sauce.  I prepped the ingredients by shredding the cheese and cubing the pancetta.

Those are pieces of the pepper seasoning in the pancetta, not dirt.  I then browned the pancetta until it was fairly crisp and added it to the mixture that was otherwise ready to head to the casserole dish.

After mixing everything together, I poured the mixture in a casserole dish and covered about a third in fresh chopped jalapenos then another layer of cheese.

Then bake at the magical temp of 350 for about 20-30 minutes.  I refrigerated this for a day or two and then baked so I went more toward the 30 minutes than the 20.  It was wonderful and I definitely went for the jalapeno side!

I didn’t write up a specific recipe for this since it is the same foundation as the other versions with a few extra specialties.  Check those out and be creative with your own tastes!

G

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We have decided to go with Lobster Mac n Cheese Pierogies for our entry!  See the Bacon, Lobster Mac n’ Cheese Pierogies Post!

For St. Patty’s day I made an Irish beer beef stew. Originally I wanted to make  stout braised short-ribs, but it turns out short-ribs were a little more pricey than I originally thought. We ended up purchasing a single bottle of Smithwick’s (an Irish red ale) and some beef shanks and enjoyed every bite.

I searched a few recipes online and got a basic of idea of how I wanted to make this and just sort of winged it from there. As such, my measurements and things may be a little off, if following this exactly, but it was so liberating cooking without a recipe! I loved it. More or less, here are the steps I took.

I chopped some fresh thyme and added it to some whole wheat flour and seasoned it with salt and pepper (all purpose flour would work just as well).

Meanwhile I added some oil to my Staub coccette and put it on low heat. Once that was nice and hot, I sauteed some onion and carrots (1 medium yellow onion and 2 carrots). 

Next, I wanted to sear each shank. In retrospect I could have done this in another pan or I could have removed the carrots and onion. What I did was move the carrots/onion mixture to the side so I had some surface area of the bottom of the coccette to work with. Once I was done searing a shank I would put it on top of the onions/carrots.

I seared them for about 1-2 minutes per side, just to get them browned (not to cook through).

Next, to get those nice brown bits off the bottom of the pan I poured in the bottle of smithwick’s. Any beer will do really.

Next, I added some chopped fresh parsley and rosemary and about 1-2 cups of beef broth (enough to cover all the pieces of meat).

I then put the lid on the Staub and placed it in a 315 degree oven for about 2 hours.

At this point I knew it was done!

I wanted to make a thick, rich gravy to pour over each serving. I poured the braising liquid into a saucepan and set it to high, allowing some of the water to boil off. 

We placed the meat over some roasted garlic mashed potatoes and poured the gravy over everything.

It was really delicious. Though there are several steps to this, it’s relatively easy. The low and slow cooking really does all the work for you and creates great flavor, tender meat, and perfectly soft vegetables. I highly encourage you to give this a shot!

-E

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This is usually what I would do with yellow squash and call it at that, saute with onion, oil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Once the squash started to soften, I added diced raw bacon.

Stir the bacon in and cook until about half way done.  Then add cubed or shredded bread and about a cup or so of chicken broth.  The bread should be moist, but not overly soggy so start with less chicken broth and add more as needed.

And a bit more mixed and moistened.

Then pour into a casserole dish and bake at the magical temperature of 350 for about 20 minutes.  I like a bit of a crust on top, so keep an eye on it to cook to your liking.

G

I started with a store bought corned brisket and sprinkled the seasoning packet on the meat and put it on the indirect heat of a charcoal grill similar to pulled pork or brisket.

After about 3 hours of indirect grilling with occasional turning, the beef was ready and taken off to cool and set.

You can see the fat jacket separating from the meat

That was it for the meat for a while until it was ready to be sliced using the meat slicer.  This was just the type of situation that I wanted to get the slicer for in the first place.

I sliced it pretty thin which is the great feature of this machine.

Now to assemble the sandwiches starting with multi grain rye bread and everyone’s friend, butter.

Get that grilling and load it up with sliced corned beef, homemade spicy Russian dressing, and store bought kraut.

The only step that wasn’t shown was adding swiss cheese before closing the sandwiches up and browning then on both sides.  They were a messy delight overflowing with plenty of grilled corned beef with gooey melted cheese, spicy dressing, and kraut.

G

View Homemade Spicy Russian Dressing Recipe

]]> http://starvingkitten.com/2012/04/10/twice-grilled-corned-beef-reubens/feed/ 0 Eileen IMG_5646 IMG_5607 IMG_5605 IMG_5618 IMG_5627 IMG_5629 IMG_5630 IMG_5631 IMG_5608 IMG_5633 IMG_5610 IMG_5634 IMG_5609 IMG_5636 IMG_5638 IMG_5641 IMG_5646 IMG_5647 IMG_5650 http://starvingkitten.com/2012/03/30/miso-soup/ http://starvingkitten.com/2012/03/30/miso-soup/#comments Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:08:48 +0000 G & E http://starvingkitten.com/?p=4231 Continue reading →]]>

I LOVE miso soup! I found a great, easy recipe and was able to recreate one of my favorite restuarant dishes at home. It takes very little time to prepare and if you are considering throwing a sushi party any time soon, this would be a great way to kick things off.

Like making dishes from any ethnic persuasion, the most consuming task is shopping for the ingredients themselves. Once again I went to Lotus in the strip and was able to find everything I needed. The fist unique ingredient to me, was dashi.  Dashi is the basis of the soup broth and this version is instant- just add to boiling water. I boiled 4 cups of water and added 1.5 Tablespoons of the dashi, whisking to disolve.

Meanwhile, I prepped my seaweed.

A little dried seaweed goes a long way. Just a tablespoon of dried seaweed is needed for a full pot of soup (for 4). Place the tablespoon of dried seaweed in some water and let it reconstitute, which takes a few minutes.

Before… 

After…

 Another key ingredient here is miso paste. The Asian market had a good selection to choose from and I, knowing nothing, just selected this one. It worked out great and I enjoyed the flavor.

a

In order to incorporate the miso paste into the broth, first mix it with 1/2 cup of the hot broth you have created with the water and dashi.

Next, you will want to prep the tofu. While tofu may not be essential, it provides a nice bite to the soup. I enjoy it a lot. I went with a firm tofu and cut it into little cubes.

Once you have the dashi broth going, you can add the seaweed and tofu.

Next, add your miso paste mixture.

At this point you are basically done! We have some very kind friends living in Japan who gifted us with some authentic Japanese dishes, including these perfect soup bowls.

Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with some sliced green onion.

Serve nice and hot. (So hot in fact, that most of your pictures are steamy).

Here is the link to the exact recipe I followed and some more information about the ingredients as well. Miso Soup.

I know you will enjoy this one!

-E

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