Tomato Mozzarella & Cucumber Salad

This is deliciousness on a plate! Fresh Motzarella & Balsamic has to be my favorite combination of flavors ever!

Ingredients:
Vinaigrette:

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano, or 1/4 teaspoon dry
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced

Salad:

• 1 cucumber, peeled & sliced thin.
• 1 package fresh mozzarella, sliced
• 1 ripe tomatoes, cut into 1" thick wedges

Process:
Place garlic in the vinegar to soak for 10-15 minutes.
Slice tomatoes into wedges & cucumbers into thin slices. Place into a bowl and set aside.
Combine vinaigrette ingredients in a cruet or blender with the garlic & vinegar from above. (if a blender is used, there is no need to chop the basil or garlic in advance.)

Pour vinaigrette over the vegetables & stir to coat. Place in the fridge for a few minutes (not more than an hour)

Slice mozzarella & place a few pieces per plate. Remove the tomatoes & cucumbers from the fridge & season with black pepper. Top each plate with a mound of the mixture & leftover basil.

Scallop & Pea Risotto

This was a dinner I cooked for the family. For a vegetarian version, simply omit the scallops. The Risotto itself is vegetarian.

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh peas, cooked (I used petite frozen peas, to thaw, just run under warm water)
8 cups vegetarian stock (I used Imagine's No Chicken Broth), heated
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 pound diver scallops (optional)

Process:
Add stock to a pot & place over medium heat. (This will stay on the burner until you are done with your risotto, so I usually place it on the burner behind where I'll make the risotto.)
Put 1 cup peas and 1/3 cup stock into a blender and blend until smooth; set aside. Place a large, deep skillet over medium heat and pour in 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add celery and shallots and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, until soft. Stir in rice, making sure to coat all the rice grains with the oil. Add wine and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Ladle in 1 cup of hot stock. Using a spoon (not metal), stir gently until most of the stock has been absorbed. Keep adding stock, a cup at a time, and stirring. After about 10 to 15 minutes, test the rice. It should be cooked and creamy but still have a slight bite to it. (You may not need all of the stock. I still had about 2 cups left over) Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the butter and Parmesan. Gently fold in the pea puree and remaining 1 cup whole peas. Taste for seasoning. Remove from the heat and cover while you sear the scallops.

Set a large nonstick saute pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter. Pat the scallops with paper towels to make sure they are very dry. Season on both sides with salt and pepper. Add scallops to pan, making sure not to overcrowd, and cook until they are nicely browned on both sides, about 4 to 8 minutes depending on the size of your scallops.

Check the risotto and add a bit more stock if it has gotten too thick. In a shallow bowl or plate, make a nice mound of risotto and top with 3 or 4 scallops (optional). Garnish with the Parmesan, and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve immediately.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi in a Butter Sage Sauce

It's not often that I pull a recipe, follow the instructions & end up with the mess I ended up with this night... but what fun would a blog be if I only put the good things in it?


This is the Sweet Potato Gnocchi I made this weekend; I couldn't have been more excited for this! Sweet Potatoes, Sage Butter Sauce?! Gnocchi! What could possibly be better?!!! I was pretty sorely disappointed.

At first everything looked pretty promising! The gnocchi dough, though much more sticky than anything I had ever worked with, rolled out ok, smelled great and actually looked like gnocchi (once I figured out the rolling over the fork thing)  The only changes made were substituting, whole milk ricotta for part skim ricotta (which is what I always have on hand) and white flour for whole wheat flour... I read online in a review of the recipe that the ricotta should have been drained to reduce the moisture.. not sure how much that would have helped.

I noticed I might be in trouble at the cooking stage... boiling them did nothing to firm up the dough at all. The butter sauce (which smelled AMAZING) gave them a pretty shine, so I sucked it up, put them in a bowl and served them to my family.

My biggest gripe is that the taste is just not there, I barely get a hint of sweet potato, but they're 80% made out of them! boo... the sauce didn't help much. Overall, just disappointing. Edible.. but not enjoyable.

Here's the recipe...

Ingredients

For the Gnocchi:
2 pounds sweet potatoes
2/3 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/3 cup for the work surface

For the Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter:
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
20 fresh sage leaves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

For the Gnocchi: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Pierce the sweet potato with a fork. Bake the sweet potatoes until tender and fully cooked, between 40 to 55 minutes depending on size. Cool slightly. Cut in half and scoop the flesh into a large bowl. Mash the sweet potatoes and transfer to a large measuring cup to make sure the sweet potatoes measure about 2 cups. Transfer the mashed sweet potatoes back to the large bowl. Add the ricotta cheese, salt, cinnamon, and pepper and blend until well mixed. Add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time until a soft dough forms. Lightly flour a work surface and place the dough in a ball on the work surface. Divide the dough into 6 equal balls. Roll out each ball into a 1-inch wide rope. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces. Roll the gnocchi over the tines of a fork. Transfer the formed gnocchi to a large baking sheet. Continue with the remaining gnocchi.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the gnocchi in 3 batches and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the gnocchi using a slotted spoon onto a baking sheet. Tent with foil to keep warm and continue with the remaining gnocchi.

For the Brown Butter sauce: While the gnocchi are cooking melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted add the sage leaves. Continue to cook, swirling the butter occasionally, until the foam subsides and the milk solids begin to brown. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the cinnamon, maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Careful, the mixture will bubble up. Gently stir the mixture. When the bubbles subside, toss the cooked gnocchi in the brown butter. Transfer the gnocchi to a serving dish and serve immediately

Spicy Peanut Butter, Banana & Bacon Panini

This weekend, I was in charge of pretty much everything my family put into their mouth. Because of that, I had to pull together some dishes that involved meat options so everyone wouldn’t revolt completely!


About a month ago, I was in the grocery store and this peanut butter caught my eye. It’s called “The Heat is On” by Peanut Butter & Co. My husband LOVES anything hot and LOVES peanut butter, hello! Seemed perfect! I grabbed it and off I went.

It took me almost a full month to figure out what to do with it! I was too scared to open it & try it, what if it was horrible?! I’m not one for spicy things, and searching the internet kept coming back to the same idea, a Peanut Butter & Bacon Sandwich. Here’s what I ended up with:

Ingredients

The Heat is On Peanut Butter
Banana sliced into long strips
Bacon (or not)
Sliced sourdough bread
Butter for the pan

If you’re familiar with natural peanut butter, you know when it’s first opened, you have all the oil on top… this oil was a bright orange color from all the spices. A little intimidating! Once I got it all mixed, I tentatively tried it. At first you just get peanut butter, then there’s a slight burn in the back of your mouth. I actually LOVED it! It’s not so much hot as it tastes well spiced & seasoned.

Process:

As I cooked the bacon for the carnivores of the house, I spread both sides of the bread with a layer of peanut butter then added a layer of sliced bananas. Once the bacon was cooked, I drained the grease off on a paper towel, patted the bacon dry & added it to the sandwiches. I had heated a grill pan on the stove top & brushed it with some butter. Grill the sandwiches up on both sides until crispy, slice & serve!

I enjoyed just the sandwich (sans bacon) more than I expected, unfortunately husband wasn’t on the same page & my dad ended up finishing his sandwich off!

I would defiantly suggest this sandwich to anyone looking for something different to spice up any sandwich!