3 Cheese Stuffed Portabello Burgers with Tiny Taters

Yesterday was farmer's market day. My finds for the day included (among many other things) teeny tiny taters and hefty sweet onion/scallions. I decided to roast them both together, with rosemary, thyme kosher salt and a splash of olive oil. 

Just to give you an idea of how small these were. About the size of a marble. Some even smaller.  All of this went in the over at 370º for about an hour. 

And whats the perfect partner for potatoes? Burgers! Portabello burgers, since thats what I had in the refrigerator. I marinated the 'bellos in the same spices as the potatoes: rosemary, thyme, salt and olive oil. 

I also had a boat load of cheeses, from our trip to the Roth Kase cheese factory in Monroe. So I threw in the smoked gouda, the Spanish style manchego and the havarti in the food processor, along with some scallions, fresh coriander (also from the FM) and a clove of garlic. Process away!

The portabellos went on the grill, gill-side-down. After a few mins, I flipped them and piled on the cheese mix. Grilled for another few mins, and then threw a foil tent over the pan and let the cheese melt.

It turned into an ooey-gooey mess of melted cheese goodness galore! A splash of worcestershire sauce, a toasty bun and a few greens made it complete.

Paired up with the tiny taters, this was an incredible lunch, worth making again and again. Maybe a little less cheese next time, just to be kind to my arteries.

Onion & Mushroom Crustini

This is something my mom dreamed up. She's been craving "this bread with caramelized onions and mushroom". So I made it for her. It was delicious.

Saute and brown a few mushrooms with rosemary. Set aside.
Slice onions and dice a clove of garlic. Saute until caramelized. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.
Mix in the mushrooms.
Meanwhile, slice up a baguette and brush with olive oil. Toast in oven until slightly browned.
Top with onion+mushroom mix.
Chomp chomp. Yum.
A little cilantro on top won't hurt. Enjoy!

Soft Shell Crab Sandwich

I long for soft shell crab season every year. Now that we're in Wisconsin, I had no idea where to find these critters. A little bit of e-hunting lead me to the right spot and some live soft shell crabs.
Just a dredge in old bay & flour and a quick saute make a great pan-fried crab, ready for a sandwich, spider roll or just as is.



Bobby Flay introduced me to my first soft shell crab. Well, not personally, but at his restaurant Mesa Grill. All I remember is that it was the best sandwich I've ever had. Ever! This is my version: bun + garlic-curry mayonnaise + crab + greens = yum!

Seafood & Asparagus Paella

I've been meaning to try out a recipe out of the Paella recipe book my dear friend Tanja got for us. I finally got around to it today. With plenty of tasty sounding recipes to choose from, I had my work cut out. I realized I didn't have the right rice, saffron or the paella pan. But not having the right ingredients hasn't stopped me before.
I went with a basic paella recipe: onions, garlic, rice, seafood and cooking liquids. Since I had some chicken bones in the freezer, the liquid was a homemade chicken stock. The rice was Indian Basmati and seafood was a mix of shrimp, mussels, calamari, scallops and tilapia.

Stock

Chicken bones
Water
Salt
Peppercorns
Bay leaves

Boil. Strain. Keep ready for the rice.

Paella

Sauté finely chopped onions, garlic in olive oil.
Add a can of chopped tomatoes and a heaping spoonful for tomato paste. Saute.
Add paprika, 2 packets of Goya sazon, chili powder and salt.
Add rice, and saute till browned.
Turn heat to a medium and ladle in a cup of stock in the rice mix. Allow it to be absorbed before adding another cup of stock.
Meanwhile add any vegetables if you please. I added peas. (And asparagus, but that comes later)
Once the rice is al dente, add the shrimp, fish, calamari, scallops and nuzzle in the mussels. Top off with asparagus and cover.


Keep covered for about 10 mins. Or till the mussels open.
Stir in chopped tomato and cilantro.
All done. Get a plate and dig in!

Bread pudding

This was an impromptu pudding. Stale baguette = very yummy pudding.

The hardest part was softening up the rock hard baguette. But I made giant pieces, let them soak in the "custard", fished them out and cut it up into bite size pieces. I made up the recipe along the way so here is all that went into it.

Milk
1 Egg
Sugar
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Crushed Tag-a-longs (I happened to have some)
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
and of course the stale bread cut into bite size pieces

Beat eggs, add milk, sugar, spices. This is the custard
Soak the bread. Mix in the rest. (At this point raisins, nuts or anything else can be added)
Fill up individual ramekins, or a larger baking dish and bake at 350º for about 20 mins.
Serve up.

Cheesy Scallion Cupcakes

Ming has really inspired me to bake lately. Last week's mango cupcakes were a big hit - and gone almost instantly. I got a mini-muffin pan on my shopping expedition yesterday and was eager to try it out. Today I go for the savory kind - Cheddar Scallion Cupcakes. I used a Wisconsin Colby instead and folded a minced serrano pepper into the mix. Also swapped out the sour cream with yogurt. I didn't bother measuring the cheese or the scallions - so ended up with a very thick batter. I had to thin it out with a splash or two or milk.


For the topping - whip cream cheese and scallions. I piped it on the cupcakes with my very fancy ziploc piping bag. Bon apetit!

Whole Wheat Pizza

I got some fresh whole wheat pizza dough at Metcalfs last week, and this is what it turned into. Layered with spinach, yellow & green peppers, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella. The crust was deliciously chewy and yeasty.

One Ingredient Ice-cream

Thats right! One ingredient. Just one. I was stumped and intrigued too when I stumbled upon this site. Bananas. Whipped frozen bananas. Who would've thunk?

People who know me, know what I think of bananas. Last year I gave bananas a second chance after almost 12 years. They're not as bad as I had thought as a kid, but they're still not my favorite. But the idea of turning a banana (and JUST a banana) into ice-cream was too fascinating to pass up.

So I got bananas, froze them, cut them up and put them in the food processor.


Chop. Whip. Puree. Taste test: blah! Tastes like banana mush. Baby food. Yucky. Oh well...


Then I figured I should whip some more and just to see what happens. So I whipped some more, until it actually started to look kinda ice-creamy. Second taste test: yum! Texture very much like ice-cream, creamy, with a slight banana-y after taste.

What if I added some other flavors? Frozen strawberries go in with what was left. Whip, whip, whip. Strawberry "ice cream"! While this is no Häagen-Dazs, it tastes better than I had initially thought it would. A LOT better. Plus its all fruit. No additives, no fat, no sugar. How can you possibly go wrong? Try it. You'll like it. One tip - use ripe bananas.


Bon Apetit!

Spices!

I got my spices in the mail today! I checked out World Spice for some Hungarian smoked paprika and got sucked into more. I don't know exactly what I am planning to do with any of these, but I'm sure I'll figure it out along the way.

I am especially excited about the Arabic Baharat spice mix. By the smell of it, I'm thinking lamb and maybe some kind of rice to go with it. Stay tuned!

Mango Cupcakes

I stumbled upon this website and was taken by the beautiful layout, great use of type and of course the amazing pictures of cupcakes. I decided to try out one of the recipes - and since I had a tin of alphonso mango pulp from India, Cupcake #9: mango cupcakes seemed to be the right choice.
The recipe is pretty straight forward.

Mango Cupcakes

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup mango pulp
1/4 cup water

Mix all ingredients together. Beat with electric mixer until well-blended. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

I nixed the coconut topping from the original recipe (not a fan of shredded dried coconut) but made a mango mousse instead. Cream+mango pulp, whip away.
End product - very delish!

Big Break

Ok, so I haven't been on top of my game lately. But I've been busy. Getting married is no easy feat! But I'm back now, relaxed, married and with a nice new name. Not to mention a nice new husband. So here's to the next phase in life and lots of new food to go along with it. Salud!