Lorence's Goat Cheese Empanadas

A coworker recently made a "hummus" of sorts, an interesting concoction of chickpeas, oil-packed sun dried tomotoes, garlic and goat cheese. I was heating up my lunch in the work kitchen's microwave and flipping through a copy of "Real Simple" magazine when she offered me a taste. I really enjoyed the intense flavor and creamy texture and immediately flipped back a couple of pages inthe magazine to a recipe I had just seen, Goat Cheese Empanadas (can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/3snfv7w). I knew what I had to do...

So tonight I combined the two recipes and made a third to accompany my creation, a roasted corn salsa.

Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic

4 oz oil packed sun dried tomatoes

1 can chickpeas (drained/rinsed)

4 oz goat cheese

olive oil

refrigerated pie crust, 2 crusts (make your own if you have the time)

Method:

In a food processor, process the garlic, tomatoes, chickpeas and goat cheese and add the olive oil until it reaches a smooth hummus like consistency.

Roll out the pie crusts.

Using a 3-inch round cookie cutter, cut circles from the 2 refrigerated crusts.

Put about a teaspoon of the hummus in the center of each round.

(I rolled out the scraps of dough and made more rounds to stuff!)

Lightly dot the edges of the dough with water, fold in half, and press with a fork to seal.

Bake on a foil or parchment lined baking sheet at 375ºF until golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Serve with fresh made Roasted Corm Salsa, found on Taste of Home.

The roasted corn, fresh off of the grill:

Enjoy!

Lorence

Bari Pizzaria in Galloway, off to a good start

We had a craving for pizza last night feuled by an ad we had seen in the weekly community paper (Westside Messenger) for a new local business, Bari Pizzaria. The ad had a $5 coupon and a link to their website, http://baripizzaria.com/. We really wanted to eat out, so I called and asked if they had any eat-in tables. I was told that, yes, they do, but they have no public restrooms.

O.K., why not...

Upon arrival, we found a small front section to what is essentially a carry-out business, but there were two small 3 seat tables. We looked over the menu a bit more and ordered a 14" pizza with pepperoni, onions and mushrooms. We also ordered a side of breaded fried cheese ravioli ($4.50) and 3 cans of soda (Grape Crush, A&W Root Beer,Diet Pepsi). With our $5 coupon, our total was $17.50. We sat down to wait and the owner showed us that the two arcade game machines were free to play while we waited (my 10 yr old son loved that!). One machine was the "Multicade" machine, which has 60 different classic video games... The wait passed quickly.

When our pizza and ravioli arrived, we were NOT disappointed. The first thing we noticed- the pizza was cut PROPERLY! Not in those stupid little squares that Columbus pizza is 'famous' for, but cut into slices, 8 nice triangular slices, like a pizza should be. Next, we noticed that the mushrooms were fresh, not those rubbery canned mushrooms most places use; and then we noticed that the onions are a mix of both white and red onion, another very nice a tasty touch.

So far, it looks great. But how does it taste? Quite good, actually. The hand tossed crust is nearly perfect; it has the correct consistency and the right flavor, the pizza crust flavor that I remember from my youth in Jersey. The only thing that would have given it a perfect rating would be if it was a bit more crisp in the center, as can only be achieved in a genuine high temp flat bottom traditional pizza oven (Bari uses the modern moving track pizza oven). The sauce was very good, somewhat mild, possibly could use a bit more oregano and garlic, but still very tasty. The cheese was plentiful, had a very nice melt to it, and a genuine and fresh taste. The pepperoni was mild and not too greasy, perhaps a bit too mild, but the mushrooms had great fresh taste as did the onions, which were not burnt or even crisp, they were probably put on late in the baking process so they didn't lose their flavor. As I mentioned above the onions were a mix of both white and red onion. And I could actually pick up a piece and fold it like a good slice should be folded!

All in all, it was a very good pizza. I'm an East coast boy, a native New Yorker, raised in central Jersey, and Columbus has just been hell when it comes to decent pizza. Bari gives me hope.

I didn't get a shot of the pizza at the shop (forgot the camera!), but this is what we had leftover:

We'll definitely be back for more.

One more test that all pizza must pass - the morning after test - how does it taste right out of the fridge for breakfast? This pizza was THE best cold breakfast pizza I've had so far in my 24 years in Columbus! Outstanding - worth ordering a larger size just to have extra to put in the fridge for later!

Bari's menu lists both Chicago style deep dish and stuffed pizza and we're big fans of Chicago style pizza, especially Giordano's , so we'll be giving Bari's Chicago style a try, too.

Oh yeah, the Breaded ravioli...Not bad, not great. they were stuffed fat, had a very nice crispy golden crust and were served with the Bari pizza sauce. Not bad, not great, but interesting. Glad we had the $5 coupon, though.

If you live anywhere near Galloway, please give Bari's Pizzeria a shot. It's worth the drive to pick it up. They've got a good product, a clean shop, a good attitude towards using fresh ingredients and the owner is a real friendly guy.

Bari Pizzaria
946 Galloway Rd
Columbus, OH 43119

Enjoy,
Lorence
614-878-7700

Chocolate Strawberry Sorbet

After the success of our first two sorbet attempts (based on Martha Stewart's recipe - see my Blackberry sorbet attempt here, My son wanted me to make Strawberry sorbet - he loves strawberries, they're in season AND on sale at the grocery store. He suggested that we add cocoa powder to it so it would be chocolate strawberry flavored.

And so we did.

Same basic recipe -

12 ounces of fresh fruit, frozen overnight;

Process the frozen fruit in bursts to break it up some;

Add syrup (1/4 cup water + 1/4 cup sugar (dissolved)) while processing (for this recipe, I added a large tablespoon of cocoa powder and blended it in well to make a chocolate syrup);

push the mixture down into the process and mix it a bit,
then process it lots more until it's really smooth. It will be slightly frozen at this point.

Transfer it to a container and freeze for an hour or two;

Eat and enjoy!

Like I said up there, I made the syrup with 1/4 cup of sugar dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water, then whisked in a heaping tablespoon of cocoa powder. My son says it has "a very good balance of chocolate to strawberry, neither one is overpowering the other, but they're playing off of each other well."

I'll have to take his word for it since I do NOT eat strawberries - besides the fact that I don't like them at all, they make me break out really badly, so none of this batch is for me...

But you should make this!

Enjoy,

Lorence

Vanilla Peach Sorbet

This is Sorbet recipe attempt #2, a la Martha Stewart's recipe (I previously posted the recipe as I made it with Blackberries). I was ok with the blackberry version, but berries always seem a bit 'grainy' to me - it's a texture thing, what with all of the seeds...the flavor was great, though. Since peaches are in season right now, I thought I'd try them out this way. And for some reason, I thought a bit of vanilla flavor would be great with them. I was almost right - wrong vanilla, but great flavor.

So here's what I did:

Peeled and cut up 12 oz of fresh peaches.

Froze said peaches overnight

Process the peaches as in the original recipe - a few good bursts to break the up;

then whir the crap out of them while adding the 1/4 cup of vanilla'd syrup (1/4 cup water with 1/4 cup sugar dissolved in it + 1 teaspoon of pure REAL vanilla extract).

Push the mixture back down into the processor and keep processing until smooth.

Freeze for a couple of hours.

Eat.

Say Mmmmm......

It was quite tasty and I ate nearly all of it over the next 3 days - I did share some, though;

I'm not that mean.

You have to try this with your favorite fruit. Next up for us: Chocolate Strawberry sorbet.

Enjoy,

Lorence

Grilled Lamb Kebobs

My wife did the grocery shopping recently and came home with a pound of organic free range ground lamb for me do something with. Normally, I would make Kheema, but since it was nearly 7 PM and still over 90°F outside, I didn't want to cook anything in the house; Grill, baby, grill!

I went in search of a grilled ground lamb recipe and found this recipe for Ground Lamb on Skewers - essentially, Grilled Lamb Kebobs.

It's a pretty straight forward recipe, chop up some stuff, combine some spiced/herbs, mix it all with the meat, skewer it and stick it on the grill.

Grilled Lamb Kebobs

Ingredients:

1 green chile, finely chopped

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 pound lamb (or beef)

2 teaspoon coriander

2 cloves minced garlic

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground almonds

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

vegetable oil

1 egg

For the chile, I used a jalapeño and the 'coriander' I took to be fresh cilantro (both right off the plant from the garden). I ground some raw almonds in my spice grinder. Be sure not to process too much, it'll get a bit pasty if you're not careful.

Method:

Preheat grill.

Mix all ingredients together.

Mold mixture around long skewers (or do it the hard way and form the mixture into long thin sausages and thread onto skewers). Only the ends of the skewers should be visible.

(obviously, thiswas not how I did it!)

Place on grill, brush with oil and cook until done.

Remove from skewers and serve.

Traditionally served with rice and onion slices.

Kebobs just placed on the grill

After the first turn

A little flare up starting from the oil/grease

Into the fire for a final char

Off the grill and ready to serve

And ready to eat!

Topped off with some tahini on a bed of Jasmine rice.

Enjoy,
Lorence

Blackberry Sorbet, oh, so easy

A former coworker (now retired) posted a comment on Facebook last week about making Raspberry sorbet in a flash using a recipe from the current issue of Martha Stewart's magazine. Later that night, my wife was raving about the fresh blackberries she had purchased when she went grocery shopping earlier.

Wife: You have to try these, they're perfect!
Me: Hmm, fresh berries, now what did I just read about making something with fresh berries..., Oh yeah, sorbet!
Son: Sorbet? Did you say you can make sorbet? Can we do it NOW?

And out to the store we went for more berries.
We bought two 6 ounce containers of beautiful fresh blackberries and stuck them in the freezer.

<time passed... about 12 hours. 12 very long hours>

Then after less than 10 minutes more of blender splendor, Sorbet.
And not too shabby for a first go at it.

And no ice cream maker needed!

This is Martha's original recipe:
Raspberry Sorbet with Fresh Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup plus 1 T. sugar
1 bag frozen raspberries, 12 oz, OR 3 cups fresh raspberries, frozen
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Stir together water and 1/4 cup sugar until sugar dissolves.
Pulse raspberries in food processor until coarsely shopped.
With machine running, pour in sugar-water; pulse until mixture is smooth.
Transfer to an airtight container, and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.

Whisk cream and remaining tablespoon sugar until soft peaks form. Scoop sorbet into 4 glasses and top with whipped cream..
Serves 4

I modified the recipe only to use blackberries. I froze fresh berries myself (they were on sale - $1/6 oz pack) and after the initial pulse, I had to run the processor while adding the sugar water, then push the mixture down and process some more to get the right consistency. It was still a bit grainy, but WOW, is it tasty.

Oh, yeah, I skipped the whipped cream. It would work really well, though.

These photos aren't the best, but you get the idea.

The ingredients

After the initial pulsing

Half way there, time to push it down inside my little processor

Ready to put in the freezer for a while

Voila. Blackberry Sorbet.

The boy wholeheartedly approves.

I'm looking forward to trying this technique out with some other flavor combos, like mango, strawberry & chocolate, peach and vanilla, maybe even apple caramel.

Any other ideas?

Enjoy,
Lorence

Jambalya-Red Beans and Rice mashup, Quick Style

While out doing the weekly grocery shopping, I came across Aidells sausages. On sale and with coupons! I tried the Chicken and Apple, Italian style with mozzeralla (both were very good in the dishes I made with them) and I also bought the Cajun Style Andouille. Ok, what should I do with THAT? First thought - Jambalaya. But I don't really have the time to make a good from scratch Jambalaya. I've had box of Zatarain's Red Beans and Rice up in the cupboard for a while, though, so I could do that, but I didn't really want to make just a plain reb beans and rice dish. Jambalaya or Red beans and rice? I like 'em both...Which should I make? Can't decide, can't decide...ok, I'll make them BOTH! Together! In one pot! know what? It was pretty good and pretty quick. My son's friend was over that night and chowed down on it big time. I sent the little bit of leftover home with him for his parents to try, but he never gave them the chance (he ate it for breakfast the next day!).
A couple of weeks later I had to make a dish for the annual Cub Scout Blue and Gold dinner and it was suggested that I make that same dish. Off I went to the store to find the mix and sausage. The good new was that the mix was easy to find. The bad news was that they were out of Aidell's...The only thing I could find was Johnsonville New Orleans Brand Smoked Sausage. While I didn't like it quite as well as the Aidell's, it did the job just fine.
I doubled the recipe, included additional rice, both canned and fresh tomato, the "holy trinity", green pepper, onion and of course oil; but not just any oil. Lard, baby, lard. You, of course, can use plain old vegetable oil if you prefer.

The resulting big pot of food disappeared quickly at the dinner, garnering praise form those that partook.

Mission Accomplished.
Jambalya-Red Beans and Rice mashup, Quick Style
Ingredients used:
6 1/2 cups of water
2 tablespoons butter,margarine, vegetable oil or lard. (DO NOT DOUBLE THIS ITEM)
2 packages Zatarain's® Red Beans and Rice
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 fresh tomato, diced
1/2 cup each celery, bell peppers, and onions, all diced.
1 package of Aidell's Cajun Style Andouille sausage, sliced, diced or whatever size cut you like (see photo for how I did mine)

Method:
On high heat, haat a large dutch oven and add the sausage. Cook while stirring constantly, until just starting to brown a bit. You should get a bit of browning on the pot's bottom from the sausage.
Remove the sausage to a bowl and add the oil and the celery, bell peppers, and onions and saute until the onions return opaque.
Add the oil, water, rice mixes, tomatoes, stir it all around and bring it all to a boil.
Reduce the heat to low.
Slap a lid on the pot and simmer 25 minutes or until rice is tender, stirring occasionally.
Serve hot.


You can also add some cayenne to it if you like it with even more of a bit more kick.

Enjoy,
Lorence

Matzo Ball soup - not like mom's

A couple of weeks ago I made a batch of Matzo Ball soup, using a box of Manischewitz Matzo Ball & Soup Mix. I hadn't had it in a long while and it wasn't bad, but sure wasn't like mom's. Actually, the broth was pretty darn close, but the balls, well, they were light and fluffy. I don't like them light and fluffy. Mom always made them, um, differently, far "firmer" - we called them "cannon balls"! I love them that way, but I can't figure out how to make them so.
Anyone have any idea how to make hard matzo balls? Leave me a comment!

Enjoy,
Lorence

Cayenne peppers - finally made the grind.

Last spring I planted cayenne peppers in the garden.
After I picked them, I let them dry while hanging in a bag, a great bag that I got a loaf of bread in (from Giant Eagle) the year before. It's got holes in it that let the peppers dry out just right. It took a while, a couple of months at least, but the end result was worth the wait.
I used my old Braun coffee grinder for grinding all of the spices I need to grind, including the Indian spice blend I use for Kheema. It works great. After I'm done grinding, I clean it by grinding a tablespoon or two of kosher salt, then wiping it out with a wet paper towel. Again, it works great.

So I went from this:
to this (there's one of those bright red beauties on the left:
and into this bag:
and they finally became this:

Last week, I finally got around to grinding the peppers and the results were great, a full 2.5 oz bottle of nice finely ground cayenne, which should be enough to last 'til next harvest.
After pulling the stems off and grinding, I wound up with this:
I used a bit in the stuffing for the tilapia stuffed with crabmeat that I made the next night. Great heat, great flavor.

Enjoy,
Lorence

Quick Chicken Noodle Soup

Got a cold? You need chicken soup, boobula ...
It's January, 2010, winter is here, and it came in with a vengance.

I hate winter, just ask anyone that knows me .

I hate winter. And just like everyone else, I always get at least a bad cold and nothing, but nothing helps a bad cold like a good bowl of Homemade Chicken Soup. A few years back, I discovered an easy way to make a very quick pot of soup, done and ready to eat in less than 15 minutes, an important thing when you or some one you love feels like crap. If I've got leftover chicken, I chop it up and add it in while the noodles boil. If not, I try to add some uncooked chicken (if I've got it) at the beginning.

This recipe uses one of my favorite fast/easy ingredients, Orrington Farms Chicken Base. I use it to make "broth" quickly for many of the dishes I make, including and especially this one!

One of the things I like about this soup is that it needs only a cutting board a knife and one pot to make:
Ingredients:
6 cups water
5 teaspoons Orrington Farms Chicken Base
1 large carrot, sliced very thin
1 stalk of celery, sliced on the bias, very thin
1 small turnip, cut in a small dice
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Chicken, equivalent to 1 breast, diced or chopped up. Use leftover chicken or fresh/frozen.
chopped celery leaves for garnish
Fine Egg Noodles, like Manischewitz , as many as you like (I use about a 1/4 bag, 3 oz)

Method:
Add the water to a small stock pot, then add the chicken base. Turn the heat up to High and bring the pot to a boil.
Slice the carrot and the celery. Add them to the pot.
Dice the turnip and add it to the pot.
Add the seasonings (parsley, celery seed and pepper)
Chop the chicken and add it to the pot.
Add the noodles.
Cook until the noodles are done.
Server with a sprinkling of chopped celery leaves.



Enjoy, and feel better...
Lorence

Rustic Lamb Stew, Crock pot style

Mmm, Lamb. I love lamb, always have. I remember my mom making baby lamb chops for me as a birthday present, a great present, as they certainly weren't cheap and we certainly weren't rich. But damn, they were good. I hear people say about lamb today, "modern lamb", that it's not as gamy tasting and not as strong smelling as it used to be. Personally, I liked the odor, liked the strong, strong flavor.
I recently found that the grocery store I frequent carries "Lamb for stew", cubes of pretty lean lamb. I bought a package and went in search of recipe. I found this one on recipezarr and gave it a try, changing up a couple of things (Mushrooms! We must have mushrooms!). I was very impressed. It has a deep woodsy flavor, hearty and very satisfying. I have made it twice more since, including once with a combination of beef and pork instead of lamb.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs boneless lean lamb stew meat, cut in 1 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed dry thyme leaves
1 teaspoon rosemary, crushed
1 large onion, sliced thin
2 cups of water
1 cup bite sized carrot chuncks (about 1/2 pound or more or as much as you want)
2 cups diced potatoes
1 pound Crimini mushrooms, quartered
1 cup frozen peas, thawed

Method:
1. Sprinkle the lamb with 1/2 t salt and the pepper.
2. Dredge the lamb in the flour to coat.
3. Heat the olive oil in a 2 to 3 quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
4. Brown lamb a few pieces at a time in the hot oil. Be sure not to crowd it while browning.
5. Remove the browned lamb to the crock pot with a slotted spoon.
6. Reduce heat under the Dutch oven to medium.
7. Add the sliced onion and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally until lightly browned.
8. Stir in the water scraping up browned bits on bottom of pot.
9. Transfer the onion mixture to the crock pot; add carrots, mushrooms and potatoes to the crock pot, too.
10.Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, adding peas during the last 30 to 45 minutes (or earlier if youlike them a bit more mushy!).

As mentioned above, I made it once with beef and pork instead of lamb, but only because I was craving a hearty stew and Kroger was out of lamb that week. That version was pretty good, also.

Enjoy,
Lorence

Italian Meatballs

Last Friday was the office holiday party and due to so many budget cuts, there's no money in the department budget for going out or catering or much of anything at all. Kinda stinks, but we sucked it up and had an Italian potluck. The result was a real good lunch of antipasto, salad, fruit, lasagna, a most excellent cheesecake, and my contribution, meatballs in sauce. It's been a long time since I made Italian meatballs, so I went looking for recipe in my old cookbooks and I found this one for spaghetti and meatballs in my 1980 Betty Crocker International Cookbook. I didn't make the spaghetti, just the meatballs. They were good - no pictures, though, sorry. I'll post them next time. And there will be a next time.

Meatballs!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds ground round
3/4 cups dry bread crumbs *(make your own)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 Tablespoons fresh grated Parmesan**
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

* Make your won breadcrumbs - I toasted some 2 day old Italian bread, let it cool, then ran it through the food processor to make the bread crumbs.
**2 Tablespoons? Really? No. I added a little more, about a 1/2 cup.

Method:
1) Heat oven to 350.
2) Mix all of the ingredients together and use the very best mix mixer you've got, your hands!
3) Shape the mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls. (For easier shaping, dip your hands into cold water from time to time.)
4) Place on an ungreased jelly roll pan (I lined mine with heavy duty foil for easier cleanup).
5) Cook uncovered 15-20 minutes. (I "sacrificed" one to make sure they were done. Yummy.)

As for the sauce, well, I went easy and cheap. Once at work, I put the meatballs in a crockpot, and added a 26 oz can of Hunt's Garlic & Herb Spaghetti Sauce. I gave it a quick stir and let it sit in the crock on low from about 0900 until lunch at 1130.

Enjoy,
Lorence

Quick Dinner - Mock Lasagna

Back in October, we picked out a recipe from one of our old cookbooks that looked like a quick easy meal and wound up with a quick tasty meal that we've made a couple of times since. 

 We love a good lasagna (who doesn't?), but don't ever take the time to make one. 

 This has become a easy substitute. 

Mock Lasagna 

From "Hearty Family Favorites" (Time-Life Books). 

Ingredients: 

1 Medium Onion, coarsely chopped 

1/2 lb Italian sausage 

3 cloves of garlic, minced 

1/2 pound Farfalle (aka bow tie pasta) 

15 ounce can crushed tomato (or diced in juice/puree works, too) 

2 Tablespoons tomato paste 

1 bay leaf 

1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil 

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon black pepper 

2 cups grated part-skim mozzarella 

Method: 

1) Preheat the oven to 400. 

2) Bring a large pot of water to a boil (for the pasta). 

3) Coarsely chop the onion. 

4) Remove the sausage form the casing (if using link sausage). 

5) Crumble the sausage meat into a medium skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring, until the meat is no longer pink. 

6) Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion is translucent, 3-4 minutes. 

7) Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente per package instructions. 

8) Meanwhile, Add the tomato paste, crushed/diced tomatoes (including juice), bay leaf, basil, red pepper, salt and black pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to Low, cover it and simmer for 10 minutes. 

9) Drain the pasta. 

10) Remove the bay leaf from the sauce. 

11) Assemble the dish - Cover the bottom of an 8-inch baking dish with 1/3 of the sauce. Top the sauce with 1/2 of the pasta and half of the mozzarella. Top the cheese with 1/2 of the remaining sauce and all of the remaining pasta. Top the pasta with the remaining sauce and cheese. 

12) Bake uncovered for 15 minutes, or until heated through. 

 I like to let the cheese brown just a bit. I also add some seasoning (basil/oregano) to the top layer of cheese.

Step 6: Browning the sausage, garlic and onion

Step 8: added the tomatoes and seasonings (yup, that's the bay leaf in the center)

Step 11: first stage, sauce and pasta layers

Step 11: Assembly complete and ready for the oven

The end of step 12: Out of the oven and ready to eat!

Quick and easy - a decent meal in under 40 minutes! 

Enjoy, 

Lorence