All food, all the time.

Goat cheese, yes.

Pork tenderloin, yes.

Ques-a-dillahs, double - triple yes.

In an effort to switch things up, I suggested we try a weird recipe [made up in my head] and it turned out great.

Here’s what you’ll need for this easy and delicious dinner:

• Pork Tenderloin - I picked ours up from Trader Joe’s…probably a baby sized 1-lber
• 1/2 o’log of goat cheese or chevre - I wish I had picked up Capricho Cabra…it’s more robust.
• 1/2 cup of mozzarella
• 2 scallions, green and white parts
• 1/4 of chopped cilantro - give or take
• 4 taco sized tortillas - we buy WF’s flour style
• Decatur Poydras pork rub - this rub is just: wow
• salt & pepper to taste
• olive oil or grapeseed, preferably grapeseed=high heat.

Firstly, heat your oven to 400 degrees.
Take your pork out of the fridge and let it set at room temperature while your oven heats up [15 minutes? or longer?].
Season your pork with about a tablespoon of the Decatur Poydras pork rub.
Have a few sips of wine.
In a bowl, mix in the: goat cheese, mozzarella, scallions and cilantro + salt and pepper to taste.
In an oven-safe pan, pour in some olive/grapeseed oil and place on burner to about medium heat.
Place your pork in the pan and sear on one side for about 3 minutes.
Repeat on other side [the sear should be dark, dark brown but not burned].
Pop that into the oven.
Have a sip of wine.
Cook for about 18 minutes [160 degree internal].
Remove from oven and let rest for minutes.
Sip more wine.
Chop up the pork to bite size pieces.
Meanwhile……..
On a baking sheet, line with aluminum foil then, spray it [or oil it] up.
Place two tortillas on there and put about a tablespoon, or so of the cheese mixture on it - followed by a few bites of pork - top that with another tortilla - top that with the remainder of the cheese and then pop that contraption into the oven.
Heat until the tortillas [pronounced TOR-tiiiiiill-ahs, emphasis on those ‘Ls’] are cripsy and brown.

Serve with some sour creme and voila.

I’m entering this pizza into the Applegate Farms Cupid’s Contest because I love to cook for the love of my life…and when I do cook for him, I try to use the best possible ingredients. 

Whenever I make a pizza, I rarely grab specific accoutrements but I made a discovery on February 3^rd: Applegate Farms Pepperoni + Whole Foods pizza dough + Decatur Pickled Red Onions + a block o’ Monterey Jack cheese [+ about a tablespoon of classic marinara sauce] = epic pizza party. 

This pizza is amazing.

When using ready-to-go dough, I cook it my own way [don’t follow those instructions printed on the bag!]:

Remove dough from plastic bag

Spray glass bowl with cooking spray [or lightly oil it with olive oil]
Place dough into bowl
Cover dough with dishtowel
Let sit, room temperature, for 30 minutes
Crank your oven to high-test aka 500F

Prepare for an amazing pizza.

Roughly grate an 8oz block of Monterey Jack cheese [or more if you wish to indulge].

Grab some Decatur Pickled Red Onions [you can purchase it here]…the sweetness from the onions plus the peppery Applegate Farms pepperoni make the perfect combo.

Take out the dough and shape it onto your pizza pan [mine is nonstick with holes on the bottom].

Spread your tablespoon of sauce onto the pizza.

Evenly distribute your grated cheese.

Top – either sparingly or go crazy with the pickled red onions and then top that with lots and lots of pepperoni!

Put it into the oven for about 10 minutes [until it’s bubbling] and serve ASAP.

The pizza is just so good, so easy and did I mention good? Oh it’s good.

I’m making this delicious mess today:

Bloomin’ Onion Bread - via GWAE

My husband and I waited tables at Outback Steakhouse while we were in college and ate our share of Bloomin’ Onions. But the funny thing is we never actually ordered them. If a table ordered a Bloomin’ Onion and canceled the order, the onion would sit in the window until another table ordered one which was usually just a matter of minutes. But every once in a while there would be a lull where no orders would come in and the “Bloom” was pronounced “dead”, meaning it would not be served to customers, and all the servers got to eat it. For some reason we always came to work starving so when this happened we ate our little hearts out. 

I don’t know if there are other servers out there but I still have reoccurring nightmares where I’m in the weeds with all of my table - everyone needs a drink refill and all of my orders are wrong. I’m sooo happy when I wake up from that dream!

This naughty Bloomin’ Onion Bread has cheese stuffed in every crack and is cut just like the Bloomin’ Onion from Outback. My family loved this but really it’s enough to feed a small army. It’s a fun way to serve bread because everyone can just pull off a piece of cheesy onion bread. This would be a great appetizer or bread for a meal.

Bloomin’ Onion Bread

Source: The Changing Table

1 unsliced loaf sourdough bread

12-16 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, thinly sliced

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup finely diced green onion

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the bread lengthwise and widthwise without cutting through the bottom crust. This can be a little tricky going the second way but the bread is very forgiving.

Place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Insert cheese slices between cuts. Combine butter, onion, and poppy seeds. Drizzle over bread. Wrap in foil; place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. 
Unwrap the bread and bake 10 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.

I was fortunate to meet Chef Psilakis last year at the Buick Food + Wine event in Stamford and I was happy to also receive, gratis, his latest cookbook, How to Roast a Lamb.

The cookbook is good, albeit, slightly daunting so when I wanted to make gyros – I was surprised how quickly [and easily] they came together [although I barely followed the recipe]!

The key is very finely ground meat. Finely ground, to the point of a paste is what you’ll need. I used turkey ground meat, which is basically paste meat. The meat itself wasn’t flavorful so next time, lamb and pork [as the recipe calls for!].

Recipe transformed [a nice way of saying I did whatever I wanted!] from Psilakis:

*ask butcher to run ground meat through grinder once more for that super fine grind

• 1 thick slice of Spanish or sweet onion [I used sweet]
• extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 1 pound marbled, finely ground lamb – preferably from the shoulder [I used turkey meat hahahahha]
• 8 ounces finely ground pork
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon garlic puree [there’s a recipe for this but I used the roasted garlic found in the Whole Foods antipasti bar and just mushed it up…do it!]
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon espelette pepper or best quality chile powder [I used Indian EXTRA HOT chile powder]
• 2 tablespoon fresh herbs such as dill, parsley, or chives [I used cilantro because I felt like it]
• 1 whole scallion, minced [I forgot to add this in, so I just topped it with it]
• 2 large eggs, beaten [I used one]

Brush the onion slices with a little olive oil and season with kosher salt and pepper. On a hot griddle pan or in a cast iron skillet, grill the onion until tender. Separate into rings and chop very finely.

Lightly brush a 7.5 x 11-inch baking dish with olive oil and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F [I just used a small rectangular Pyrex].

In a large mixing bowl, combine the grilled onion, lamb, pork mustard, garlic puree, coriander, espelette, fresh herbs, scallion and eggs [I just mixed this in the Pyrex dish because I didn’t feel like wasting another dish!]. season liberally ith kosher salt and pepper and thoroughly combine the mixture with clean hands [opposed to dirty hands]. Transfer to the baking dish and spread out evenly to the edges, smoothing the top flat. Place the dish inside a large roasting pan and add boiling water to about halfway up the sides of the baking dish [I just poured water in the roaster and put it over heat on the burner to make it boil – just make sure you roaster can be directly on the burner!!!].

Bake for 45 minutes or until the gyro shrinks away from the sides and is quite hot in the middle when pierced with a metal skewer [around 150 degrees F]. Remove the pan from the water bath and cool to room temperature [I didn’t do this; we were hungry so we ate it right away].

Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or ideally, 24 hours to develop the flavors [again, I ate it right away]. 

Place a large, platter upside down over the baking dish. Turn both over and carefully remove gyro [nope, I just cut it out of the Pyrex!].

I then got some naan + tahini sauce + greek yogurt + feta [made a sauce and smeared it onto the naan]. I sliced some iceberg lettuce and layered that on the naan/sauce, topped it with the gyro meat, sprinkled some scallions on top and VOILA!

I only have one photo because we ate the food in mere seconds! And it’s blurry because I was so excited to eat :-)

rochester, ny is great! it has lots of great food - one of my favorite rocfoods is the garbage plate. a wonky mess of homefries, macaroni salad, a hotdog and/or hamburger and then it’s topped with a hot sauce [sorta like a very fine chili - fine in texture and fine in taste!] plus ketchup…mustard…onions…mmmm.

this recipe takes all of those elements and turns it into a delicious brunch! meat on top of meat!
you can’t go wrong.

i developed and created this recipe [with the help from lots of sources, including the madre] and entered it into the very good recipes breakfast challenge. check it out! 

*meat sauce takes a lot of ingredients and…a lot of time, but it’s worth it! 

HOT SAUCE

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon oil – I use Grapeseed
• 1 pound ground beef – I use 85 organic
• 1 water [or enough to completely cover the meat]
• 1/4 cup tomato paste [if you don’t have paste, just toss in about 1/8 cup of ketchup!]
•  lots - maybe a 1/2 bottle or more of Crystal/Franks cayenne pepper hot sauce
•  1 tablespoon brown sugar
•  1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
•  1 teaspoon chili powder
•   a pinch of cumin
•  a pinch of allspice
•  a pinch of cinnamon
•  1 clove clove
•  salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

    In a large skillet, add oil and saute onion/garlic for about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and mix well. Add ground beef - make sure you break it up! Once the meat browns, add water. Bring mixture to boil then let simmer. Use an immersion blender to get a fine consistency [no blender? no worries – just mix it up as much as possible]. Add the remaining ingredients. Simmer 1 hour or longer, adding water if necessary to keep it ‘gravy like’.

[apologies for non-precise measurements but I tend to do dashes and pinches and guesses]

Potatoes

• 2 cups diced potatoes
• water
• salt

Place diced potatoes into a medium sized pot. Cover with cold salted [less than a ¼ of salt!] water and bring to a boil. Cook until fork tender, then drain.

Corned Beef Hash

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• chopped onion - I used red onion and Vidalias - about 1 cup
• 1/2 pound lean kosher corned beef, sliced thick [you can get this at the deli counter in your grocery store] 
• 2 cups cooked potatoes
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream [I probably used a bit less than this]
• salt and pepper to taste

On medium heat, in a large, deep pan/skillet, add butter.

Add diced onions and cook for about 5 minutes – stir them frequently so they don’t burn.

Mix potatoes and corned beef into the onions. Push down on the top of the mix with a spatula and let sit, UNTOUCHED, for about 3 minute intervals.

 Stir mixture and repeat above process, continuing to push down the mix.

After the mixture is brown and starts to crisp up, stir in the cream and mix again.

Add salt and pepper as your see fit.

The key is to get the hash to a golden brown hue [I like mine almost burnt ‘burnt’].

 Serve with your choice of eggs – I did mine over medium. Add your meat sauce to the plate, pour yourself a mimosa [or 3] and brunch is served.

i was pleasantly surprised when i received this cookbook in the mail [thanks brooke!]. 

last night i made cheese bread and it came out great. the book is nice because it gives you the reason why you’re previous recipes fail and why this one succeeds.

here’s the recipe and background:

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:

Run-of-the-mill cheese bread is at once dry and greasy, with almost no cheese flavor. Unlike pizza, wherein bread dough is merely topped with cheese, a true cheese bread makes equal partners of the two components. We wanted to make the most of this relationship and create a rich, moist loaf topped with a bold, cheesy crust. We started with all-purpose flour and added whole milk and sour cream for a clean, creamy flavor and rich, moist texture. Just a few tablespoons of butter added enough richness without greasiness, and using less fat made the texture heartier and less cake-like. A single egg gave rise and structure without an overly eggy flavor. As for cheese, small chunks (rather than shreds) of Asiago or cheddar mixed into the dough offered rich, cheesy pockets throughout the bread; a moderate amount added plenty of flavor without weighing down the bread. For added cheesy flavor and a crisp, browned crust, we coated the pan and sprinkled the top of the loaf with shredded Parmesan. (less)

Makes one 9 by 5-inch loaf

If using Asiago, choose a mild supermarket cheese that yields to pressure when pressed. Aged Asiago that is as firm as Parmesan is too sharp and piquant for this bread. If, when testing the bread for doneness, the toothpick comes out with what looks like uncooked batter clinging to it, try again in a different—but still central—spot; if the toothpick hits a pocket of cheese, it may give a false reading. The texture of the bread improves as it cools, so resist the urge to slice the loaf while it is piping hot. Leftover cheese bread is excellent toasted; toast slices in a toaster oven or on a baking sheet in a 425-degree oven for 5 to 10 minutes, not in a conventional toaster, where bits of cheese may melt, burn, and make a mess. Our cheese bread is best made with whole milk, but it will taste fine if you have only 2 percent milk on hand. Do not use skim milk.

QUICK CHEESE BREAD

America’s Test Kitchen Live!
by Cook’s Illustrated, John Burgoyne, Daniel J. Van Ackere, Carl Tremblay

Makes one 9 by 5-inch loaf

If using Asiago, choose a mild supermarket cheese that yields to pressure when pressed. Aged Asiago that is as firm as Parmesan is too sharp and piquant for this bread. If, when testing the bread for doneness, the toothpick comes out with what looks like uncooked batter clinging to it, try again in a different—but still central—spot; if the toothpick hits a pocket of cheese, it may give a false indication.

3 ounces Parmesan cheese, shredded on the large holes of box grater (about 1 cup) 
3 cups (15 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour 
1 tablespoon baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon cayenne 
1 teaspoon salt 
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper 
4 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, or mild Asiago, crumbled into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 cup) 
1 1/4 cups whole milk 
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 
1 large egg, beaten lightly 
3/4 cup sour cream

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray, then sprinkle 1/2 cup of the Parmesan evenly over the bottom of the pan.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, cayenne, salt, and pepper to combine. Using a rubber spatula, mix in the cheddar, breaking up clumps. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, melted butter, egg, and sour cream. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined (the batter will be heavy and thick). Do not overmix. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan; level the surface with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan evenly over the surface. 

3. Bake until deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf conies out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack 5 minutes; invert the loaf onto the rack, turn right-side up, and continue to cool until warm, about 45 minutes. Cut into slices and serve.

VARIATION
QUICK CHEESE BREAD WITH BACON, ONION, AND GRUYERE

1. Cut 5 ounces (5 slices) bacon into 1/2-inch pieces and fry in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and pour off all but 3 tablespoons fat from the skillet. Add 1/2 cup minced onion to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 3 minutes; set skillet with onion aside.

2. Follow recipe for Quick Cheese Bread, substituting Gruyere for cheddar, adding the bacon and onion to the flour mixture along with the cheese, and omitting the butter.

my friend c and her husband picked up the turkey from a farm near their house in madison.

it was amazing.

they brined it and it was just perfect.

i made a terribly disappointing caesar salad with endives [endives as the holder].

it was gross. really, really gross. too lemon-y and too saucey. 

oh well.

i managed to make cakes and not burn them or ruin them, so that was a bonus.

i also made a delicious non fattening onion ‘souffle’ aka hot onion dip.

low fat because…gulp…i bought fat free cream cheese. yes, i know, it’s terrible for you but sometimes, you just have to do these things.

it was good.

here’s the recipe: saveur onion souffle.

 gobble, gobble.