Monthly Archives: September 2011

Caesar Salad Pizza

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Caesar-Salad-Pizza-3

This week’s Project Pastry Queen was Caesar Salad Pizzas. I was definitely intrigued. I love Caesar salad and I love pizza. This should be a win-win.

The recipe seems long and difficult but it’s because there are so many parts. I’m not sure if the pizza crust was worth the time (although it really didn’t take too long). Next time, I might use pita bread, Trader Joe’s pizza crust, Naan bread, or maybe even a tortilla.

Either way, it was good.

The dressing may scare some of you with the whole raw egg thing. I’ve had raw egg in a Caesar salad before, but I’ve never made it that way. I decided to stick to the recipe and keep it in. I probably should have bought the pasteurized eggs but didn’t feel like going to the store. While I can’t speak to the taste difference if I had left the egg out, I don’t think it would hurt.

Long story, short; I’ll be keeping the dressing recipe on hand and the concept in the back of my mind.

Caesar-Salad-Pizza

This week’s challenge (I’m a bit behind.)? Tuxedo Cake!!! Can’t wait for this one.

INGREDIENTS

Crust

1 ½ C lukewarm water
2 (1 oz) packages active dry yeast
2 Tbls olive oil, plus additional for brushing on crusts
2 tsp honey
4-5 C flour
3 Tbls semolina flour (optional)
1 tsp sea salt
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
½ C coarse cornmeal
1 C freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

Dressing

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 anchovy (optional – I didn’t use)
2 large eggs, beaten, or ½ C pasteurized egg product
½ C freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 C extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ C freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Salad

1 large head romaine lettuce, washed and cut into 1 ½” slices
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

Dough

  1. Combine the lukewarm water, yeast, olive oil, and honey in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.
  2. Add 3 C of the all-purpose flour, semolina flour, salt, crushed red pepper. Mix on low speed. With the machine running, add 1 C of the all purpose flour to make a soft dough.
  3. Mix the dough on low speed about 5 min longer, until smooth.
  4. Add up to 1 more cup of the all purpose flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the bowl. (I didn’t need any additional flour.)
  5. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10-15 turns.
  6. Place in a large oiled bowl. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 30-40 min.
  7. Generously coat two baking sheets with olive oil. Sprinkle the sheets with cornmeal.
  8. Preheat over to 450. (If you have a pizza stone, use it instead of the baking sheets, preheating it along with the oven. No need to grease the stone, just sprinkle it with cornmeal just before you bake the pizzas.)
  9. Divide the dough into quarters. Roll each piece into a ball, place the dough ball on a baking sheet, cover with a damp towel, and let rest for 10-15 minutes longer. Use immediately, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 3 hours.
  10. Using a floured rolling pin, flatten each dough ball into an 8” circle. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with ¼ C Parmesan cheese.
  11. Transfer the crusts onto the prepared baking sheets and bake for 10-15 minutes, until browned and crisp.

Dressing

  1. Add garlic, anchovy, eggs, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and mustard in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process until smooth.
  2. With the processor running, add the olive oil through the feed tube in a thin, steady stream.
  3. Pour the dressing into a bowl, stir in Parmesan cheese, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Salad

  1. Toss the lettuce and tomatoes with the dressing.
  2. Place a generous amount of salad on top of each warm pizza crust.
  3. Garnish with shaved Parmesan cheese. Serve flat like a tostada.
Caesar-Salad-Pizza-4NOTES
Serves 4

Very, very slightly adapted from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather.

Bananas Foster Shortcakes

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Bananas-Foster-Shortcakes

I recently joined a great group of bloggers on a journey through The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather – Project Pastry Queen. The first project was Bananas Foster Shortcakes. I think I joined at the perfect time!

The sauce is to die for. Not good for you, but so darn delicious. I could just make the sauce, pour it over ice cream and be done.

The shortcakes weren’t my favorite. To me, they were a bit flat and dry. Once I added the sauce it really helped balance out the sweetness of the sauce. Next time I make this, I will probably try a different shortcake recipe or really just skip them all together.

The next project is Caesar Salad Pizzas. The best of both worlds. Can’t wait!

INGREDIENTS

Biscuits

2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1/3 C granulated sugar
½ C chilled unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ C heavy whipping cream
sugar for sprinkling

Bananas & Syrup

1 C unsalted butter
1 ½ C firmly packed brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ C banana liquer (optional)
¼ C dark rum (optional)
8 bananas (somewhere between green and ripe), sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
1/3 C pecans

8 scoops vanilla ice cream

DIRECTIONS

Pecans

  1. Preheat the oven to 350.
  2. Arrange pecans on baking sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes. Watch closely to make sure they don’t burn. Cool completely.

Biscuits

  1. Increase oven to 425.
  2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and granulated sugar in a food processor fitted with a metal blade.  Process about 30 seconds.
  3.  Cut the butter into 16 pieces and add to the flour mixture.  Pulse about 15 times, until the mixture is crumbly.
  4. Add the pecans, turn on the processor and pour the cream in through the feed tube in a thin, steady stream, until the mixture begins to form a ball.
  5. Remove the dough and place on a flat surface that has been sprinkled with flour.  Gently form the dough into a 1/2 inch thick disk.  Use a 4 inch biscuit cutter, round cookie cutter, or a glass to cut the dough into rounds.  Roll the biscuits in the coarse sugar and set on a cookie sheet.
  6. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the shortcakes begin to turn golden brown.  Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer the biscuits to individual serving plates.

Sauce

  1. Melt the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in a large saute pan set over medium-high heat, about 3 minutes.
  2. Bring mixture to a boil them immediately bring to a simmer. If it continues to boil, remove pan from heat for a few seconds to help it cool.
  3. Add the banana liqueur, rum and sliced bananas to the syrup and simmer for about 5 minutes.
  4. Scoop ice cream onto the shortcakes.
  5. Top with sauce and sprinkle with pecans.

NOTES

Serves 8

Very, very slightly adapted from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather.

Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas

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buffalo-chicken-enchilada-1

Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas have been floating around the food blogging world the past few weeks. I had to get in on it. They looked sooo good! And, they were awesome. Best of all, Andy loved them and said this is a definite make again meal.

These were quick and easy to put together. Next time, I’ll try making the enchilada sauce from scratch.

This recipe could easily be doubled and you’ll probably want to. We were quite tempted to eat all of them in one sitting but then thoughts of extra gym time held us back. Next time, probably not.

buffalo-chicken-enchilada-2

INGREDIENTS

4 whole wheat tortillas (approx. 12”)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
11 oz can red enchilada sauce
¼ C buffalo wing sauce
¾ C shredded cheese (I used a few different kinds to use up scraps – Gouda, mozzarella, and cheddar)
4 ounces gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
2 green onions, chopped
¼ C cilantro, coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Spray an 8” x 8” baking dish with non-stick spray.
  3. Combine the enchilada sauce and buffalo sauce in small bowl.
  4. Add shredded chicken to a bowl with ½ green onions and ½ C shredded cheese. Add 1/3 of enchilada and buffalo sauce.
  5. Pour an additional 1/3 of enchilada and buffalo sauce in the bottom of baking dish.
  6. Split the chicken mixture between all tortillas and roll being sure to fold in the sides. Place seam side down in baking dish. Pour remaining enchilada and buffalo sauce over enchiladas.
  7. Sprinkle gorgonzola and remaining shredded cheese over top.
  8. Bake for 20-25 min.
  9. Garnish with remaining green onions and cilantro.

NOTES

Make 4 enchiladas

Adapted from How Sweet It Is.

Mexican Corn Chowder

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Mexican-Corn-Chowder

A little more Mexican for you!

Andy and I have a new favorite roadside stand. They have a large variety of fruits and vegetables. The owner showed us what had been picked that morning so we’d have the freshest vegetables and she even showed us the fields with what they were going to have ready to harvest in the fall. We’ll definitely be visiting them again.

We ended up buying some late summer sweet corn before it’s gone until next year. I’ve had my fill of corn on the cob this summer but I wanted something that was going to showcase the corn. After an amazing bowl of corn chowder I had at a restaurant in Seattle, I had to make my own.

This recipe has been family-in-law and even 20 month old approved! It was a hit at a family birthday gathering the other day.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons butter
2 T plus 1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp cumin
6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups canned chicken stock
2 cups 1% or 2% milk
2 Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced
1 can green chiles
2 C shredded chicken (optional)
6 ears corn (approximately 6 C)
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ C chopped cilantro (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 450.

Cut the corn kernels off the cob and toss with 1 tsp olive oil and 1 tsp salt. Spread corn on baking sheet and roast for 15 min or until golden. (Roasting the corn is optional.)

While corn is roasting, start making the soup.

Heat the butter and 1 T olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, salt, chili powder, cumin, and thyme and cook until onions are translucent.

Stir flour into vegetables until fully combined. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Add the cream and potatoes. Bring to a boil for about 7 minutes, gently stirring.

Carefully, ladle about half of the potatoes and some broth into blender. Liquefy potatoes and add back to soup pot. (The more potatoes you blend, the thicker the chowder.)

Stir in corn, green chilies and chicken (optional). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Simmer for 10 min. Garnish soup with chopped cilantro.

NOTES

10 servings

Adapted from Tyler Florence’s Corn Chowder

This chowder isn’t spicy and could definitely be kicked up depending on who’s eating it. I would try garnishing the chowder with jalapeños and/or increasing the chili powder.

Butterfinger Clone

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butterfinger-cloneOh my. These are delicious. Not quite the same as a real Butterfinger but so close.

Three ingredients and easy to make.

INGREDIENTS
1 lb candy corn
16 oz peanut butter
16 oz dark chocolate candy coating

Butterfinger-clone-2DIRECTIONS
1. Line an 8”x8” pan with parchment or wax paper.
2. Melt candy corn in microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. Stir after each interval.
3. Stir in peanut butter.
4. Spread mixture into pan and cool completely. Trim edges if needed. Cut into 15 rectangles (3 rows of 5).
5. Melt chocolate according to package instructions.
6. Using fork, dip each rectangle into chocolate and completely cover. Place on waxed paper until set.

NOTES
Makes 15 mini bars. Store in airtight container at room temperature.

Slightly adapted from Plain Chicken.