What's For Dinner?

After working all day, the dreaded question arrives...about the time you realize you have made no plans.  Too much homework to go out to eat...so the Mom stands in front of the open refrigerator, perusing the options.

Hmmm...a pound of ground pork - thawed yesterday - needs to be used.  1/4 pound of ground sirloin leftover from the previous night's dinner.  7 mushrooms that will begin shrinking within the next day or so...and a half of a white onion.  Oooookay.  What's in the cabinet?  Half a box of whole wheat pasta spirals and a jar of Bertolli pasta sauce.   Sounds like pasta and meatballs with a red sauce to me!

I got out a bowl, the aforementioned ingredients, tossed in the meats, chopped the onion, put half of the onion in with the meat, seasoned with some dried basil, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder...threw in an egg and about 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs.  Shaped some little meatballs and fried them off in olive oil.  Done.

Drained that pan and used a bit of the leftover oil to saute the sliced mushrooms and remaining onion - added the pasta sauce, brought to a gentle simmer.

Tossed the cooked pasta and the meatballs into the sauce mixture and  let it get snuggly for about 3 minutes.  Served topped with grated Parmesan.

We looked happily at our bowl of goodness...all ready in under 40 minutes.  Near disaster averted. (I almost ALWAYS have a menu planned in advance - this week has been crazy and I didn't get it done)  I am happy when an unplanned meal comes together!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

MARBLE CHEESECAKE - The Richest!

A small nod to the hubby's coastal week-end!

This is a recipe winner from 1974's Austin American-Statesman's recipe contest.  It won for The Richest - Most Decadent, April 1974.  I clipped it and it has been a family favorite ever since.

My husband's birthday is next week and he will be out-of-town working.  He's here THIS week-end so we are declaring it the birthday week-end at home.  I said "I assumed a cheesecake would be your choice?"  He smiled and said "yep, sounds good"!

I looked around to see if there was another recipe I wanted to try - but I hadn't made this one in a couple of years so quickly picked it up and got started.  It is really a luscious cheesecake.  Rarely do I stick exactly to a recipe...but I do with this one!  I must have cut off whoever submitted it - but I wrote in pencil with a star next to it "Great Recipe". 

MARBLE CHEESECAKE

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar, divided
6 tablespoons butter, melted
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup cream
2 ounces unsweetened or semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
Combine cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and the melted butter in a bowl. 

Crust ingredients

Press mixture in bottom and 1 3/4 inches up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan; set aside. (I always put foil around the outside of my springform when I use a butter crust.  I use a measuring cup to press the crumb mixture into the springform pan.)

Crust in the springform pan - and no, I didn't measure 1 3/4 inches up the side!

In the bowl of a stand mixer beat cream cheese, 1 1/4 cups sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until fluffy. 

24 ounces of softened cream cheese and the rest of the sugar - let the batter begin!

Nice and creamy - added vanilla after the sugar and cream cheese were mixed

Add eggs (one at a time), beating on low speed just until blended. 
Add cream; beat on low speed until blended.

Cream ready to be incorporated - be sure to do it on slow or you'll be wearing it!
So speaks the voice of experience :-)

Stir 1 1/2 cups batter into the melted cooled chocolate, stirring briskly until smooth.

I always think 2 ounces of chocolate isn't enough...but it is!

Keep stirring...it WILL come together!

Yum, chocolate cheesecake mixture

Pour half the plain mixture into the crust.

Oops, I added a bit more than half - not paying attention

Gradually pour in half the chocolate mixture, using a zig zag motion.
Pour the rest of the plain mixture over the chocolate mixture.
Drizzle the final bit of the chocolate mixture all over the top of the plain mixture.

These are going to be interesting layers - heavy on the bottom, heavy on the first chocolate
layer and then thin on the upper two.  Sometimes it just is the way it is!

Draw a knife or narrow metal spatula through the batter to marble the layers.

Pretty marbelized swirls - ready to bake!

Bake at 325 for 60 to 70 minutes or until the center appears nearly set when shaken.  Cool in pan for 15 minutes on a wire rack; loosen sides of pan.

Cooling on rack - hot out of the oven...smells great...looks pretty...yay!

Cool 30 minutes more on rack, then remove sides of pan.

Chill cake.
Note:  Typically, the top of this cheesecake may crack during cooling

Now, I have thought of using a water bath to reduce the risk of cracking, but...the last time I did that, my pan was not water-tight, even with the foil - my crust got sogged - and I can't begin to tell you how much I wanted to cry.  I never have done much of anything other than what the original recipe calls for since then (well, except for using semi-sweet chocolate from time to time - it calls for unsweetened chocolate...and it's my call to add the eggs one at a time - seems right so that's what I do).  I had a few small cracks, some bubbles - but overall, it looked quite lovely!

I have served it with chocolate dipped strawberries and chocolate shavings...but my family is just fine with a big old slab of this cheesecake....just the way it is!  Half the cake is now gone (as I conclude this post) and the best words of appreciation were "honey, you could sell this cheesecake!"...and he got the same reply I always give..."that sounds like work - NO THANKS!"

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

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LASAGNA ROLL-UPS

When we were back-to-school shopping in Harlingen last week, the teen got to choose where we would eat an early dinner (because Mom was about to fall out from exhaustion) and he chose Olive Garden.  I gotta say, I just love their pasta fagioli soup, salad, and bread sticks...but beyond that, I'm not a huge fan.  They feel overpriced for things I know I can create in my own kitchen as well, if not better.

If you have read my blog before, you know I have a picky, picky AS teen eater.  He usually orders lasagna or spaghetti with meatballs.  Shockingly, he ordered Lasagna Rollata al Forno...which ended up being, obviously, lasagna roll-ups.  What was disappointing was the pasta was hard on the outside and, frankly, didn't look very appealing sitting in its puddle of very light 5-cheese marinara sauce.  He basically ate the insides of the dish and left everything else, filling up on bread sticks.

I told him he should try it again...Mamma Mia style!  So, tonight, he comes wandering out of his man cave saying "I smell something good"....and I told him it was the Lasagna Roll-ups for dinner tonight.  He peaked in all the pans and smiled big.  I think he'll like it!

LASAGNA ROLL-UPS ala MAMMA MIA

Ingredients:

3/4 pound ground sirloin
1/4 chopped white onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil
3/4 jar Bertolli Tomato and Basil pasta sauce
1/4 cup heavy cream
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper

6 pieces of whole grain lasagna

1/2 recipe homemade ricotta cheese (about 1 cup)
1 egg
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
1/4 cup dried Italian seasoning
Pinch of black pepper
Big pinch of kosher salt
1 cup shredded Asiago
1 cup shredded Mozzarella
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan

METHOD:

In a saucepan, crumble and brown the ground sirloin and the chopped onion.  Add salt and pepper and garlic powder.

ground beef and softened onions - almost ready

While that is browning, put a pot of water on to boil over medium high heat, salt well when boiling.
Add the 6 pieces of dried lasagna and gently work down into the water - boil for 10 minutes (I used Ronzoni Healthy Harvest - use whatever time your brand suggests).

lasagna gently simmering

While that is boiling, add pasta sauce to meat and the fresh basil.  When it comes to a low simmer - add cream and put on low to just keep warm.

pasta sauce - adding the cream

yum - I could eat this all by itself!

In a separate bowl, mix homemade ricotta cheese, 1 cup of Asiago cheese, the egg, 1/4 cup fresh basil, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper - stir until creamy.

The ingredients for the filling

creamy and ready to spread on noodles

When the lasagna noodles are ready, carefully remove them from the water and place them straight out on wax paper.  I used two pieces and stacked them 3 per piece - which gave me working room on my counter and prevented them sticking together.
Allow to cool while you are finishing prep work.

grating the cheese while the noodles cool

Place about 1/2 of the pasta sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish.  I used a round souffle dish that I thought would perfectly hold 6 roll-ups...and it did.
Place 1/6 of your ricotta mixture on a lasagna noodle and spread it to the end.  Top with 1/6 of the grated Mozzarella. 

spread the filling and top with more grated cheese - yummo!

Roll it up - not too tightly - you don't want to squish the cheese out. 

Six little piggies snuggled up in bed

Carefully transfer to casserole and nestle it, seam side down, into the sauce. (I laid mine on their sides. The ones the teen had were standing straight up - and not covered by sauce. The pasta on the outside was hard and chewy - very unpleasant. So, I laid mine down.)  Continue the same procedure with the rest of the noodles and pour the remaining sauce over the top.  Jiggle the casserole so the sauce gets down between each roll-up.
Sprinkle the grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Ready to pop in the oven

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to sit, loosely covered with foil, for 5-10 minutes.

Resting after removal from the oven

Carefully try to determine where one of the rolls is located to begin serving.  You could have, of course, done this without meat.  The O.G. dish had no meat.  The teen, however, is an omnivore...and he likes meat in his pasta sauce.  So, that's what I did.

I served two per person, because that is what Olive Garden provided.  That was WAY too much food for me though.  The teen loved it and ate both of his roll-ups.  His first comment was "yay, these are soft...these are really good Mom!"

Maybe not as pretty as Olive Garden's Rollata...but incredibly more tasty!

Huge sigh of contentment.  Nothing better than happy consumers when you've cooked a meal that comes from the heart of your kitchen!

Really, it's just a different way to serve lasagna.  I probably wouldn't have done it if he hadn't ordered the Rolatta al forno at Olive Garden...I doubt he'll ever do that again!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

Bella e Deliziosa CALZONE !!!

The teen likes to have homemade pizza on Friday nights.  For some reason he thought Saturday was Friday...that just means it is time for summer to be over!  When the days start running together... it's time to hit the structure of SCHOOL!!!

Anyway, I made some homemade pizza dough for him and while it was rising he said "Mom, I think I want to make a calzone".  Uh, okay - never made one but I think it's basically a pizza in a pocket.  He, however, wanted a BIG calzone...so we gave it a try.

We used our standard pizza dough that I use to make focaccia and pizza.  It's a Martha Stewart recipe and has never failed me.  I have blogged it before - see link in previous sentence.  Actually, I just make the dough and the teen always takes it from there.    Today, as we so often do, I made a half recipe, because I was having a salad for dinner.

I lightly rolled the dough into a rectangular shape on a floured surface and transferred it, on a rolling pin, onto a cookie sheet dusted with cornmeal.  While I cleaned up, the teen built the calzone.  He laid down his ingredients on one side of the dough - pizza sauce, his special herb mix (basil, Italian seasoning, garlic, onion powder, and pepper), layered on some Asiago cheese and a good bit of mozzarella, a layer of pepperoni, some bacon crumbles, and lastly more mozzarella cheese.  He carefully pulled up the second half of the dough to cover the side with toppings, and began pinching together the edges.  We considered several options for sealing - a fork (hard to do with a pan with an edge), a finger pinch, and lastly - he sort of rolled it up and then pinched it all around.  Looked good to me.  I next told him he should dust off the cornmeal that had stuck to the bottom of the pizza dough he'd pulled over the toppings - so he did, using a pastry brush.  Next I showed him how to make an egg wash, which he then painted all over the calzone.  I explained this would give it a nice brown crust.  He likes a soft crust so he was leery...but he did it.  Lastly I recommended sprinkling on some Parmesan or Asiago  on top.

He had the oven pre-heated to 400 degrees and carefully placed his rather large calzone onto the middle rack in the oven.  He started with 15 minutes on the timer and then checked it - felt like it needed a bit more time so we both agreed - set it for 7 minutes more and then check again.

He deemed it perfect at the 22 minute mark and removed it from the oven to rest for about 5 minutes before slicing into it.  It slid easily onto a cutting board and he asked me to make the first cut.  I think he wasn't sure what might bubble out!  It was quite pretty on the outside and equally nice on the inside.  His eyes got kind of big and said "it's like stuffed Italian bread!"... and it was!  The sauce had mostly been absorbed into the dough and the cheesy stuffing looked mighty good. (It WAS delicious - I did have one small piece ;-)

I do believe he was very proud.  And, I... I was once again, a very proud mom!  I also have no doubt this will become one of the regulars on "pizza night".

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

flipflop Moscato Strawberry Tiramisu

We weren't patient enough to wait until it sat up long enough
and the layers tumbled...but it surely did taste good!!!

I know I've mentioned before that I think flipflop Winery's Moscato is simply Nectar of the Gods...but I'd just cracked open an icy cold, brand new bottle while I sat in my lounger on my steamy hot deck, looking at the bay and the setting sun a couple of nights ago...and feel I simply must expound on this particular vino...again....and really, I'm not sucking up to them.  I am absolutely not obligated to say good things about their wines.  I could say it sucked, it would not be happy for them, but I could. 

However, it would be a lie, I just absolutely love it.  I will say, my husband does not.  He does not like sweet wines and screwed up his face when I asked him to taste it.  So did my friend, Ann.  They are red wine drinkers...they like Merlots and Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.  I, for one, like Moscato, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, and Rieslings.  Those are my great loves in the wine world.  I could go the rest of my life without drinking another red.  I feel certain my husband feels the same about my fruity whites (as he calls them).  Opposites attract.  We each get our own bottle. :-)

My first sip of the evening slid down my throat, cooling my insides, while I pressed the cold bottle to my throat (it's been abnormally hot down here).  I had a little bowl of whole strawberries with me and I thought I'd dip them in the wine.  OMG that was good.   Life is good, and made even better by this lusciously affordable wine.  $7?  Really?  Yes, really.  I think vintner, David Georges, has a bit of Dionysus in his bloodline...it's that good.

As I sat cogitating life, the laziness of the coastal evening, the pleasure of the wine, and what I wanted to bake (yep, deep thoughts there), I knew I wanted to create another recipe using this fabulous summer wine.  I'd had tiramisu recently and I started thinking about how I might make something similar...perhaps replacing the coffee, Marsala, or sharp brandy flavors with Moscato and incorporating these sweet berries I was languidly dipping in the crisp yet sweet wine.

I needed some good lady fingers and I knew I'd seen some Italian lady fingers at Zeste in the past, so I decided I would pop in and get some if they were still stocking them.  I love Zeste and don't get there often enough.  I had checked HEB, Wal-Mart, and The Blue Marlin...so Zeste was my last chance....ta da...they had just what I was seeking.  Worth noting - a reminder that Zeste has tapas on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday during the summer.  Yummmmm.... (note October 2013 - Zeste's is now out of business.  A great loss for the island)

Anyway, back to the recipe creation.  There's no zabaglione nor custard in this recipe.  I wanted it light and easy.  Here's the recipe I came up with:

flipflop Moscato Strawberry Tiramisu

Ingredients:

1 package crisp Italian lady fingers (I used Alessi Biscotti Savoiardi - there were 4 individual packets within the big packet)
11/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. flipflop Moscato wine, divided - per directions below
1 3/4 pounds of fresh strawberries, washed, hulled, and sliced
A few pretty strawberries to decorate the dessert
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
2 8 oz. containers Mascarpone cheese,
     removed from fridge one hour before beginning to prepare recipe
2 cups heavy whipping cream
6 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure vanilla bean paste
A small amount of finely grated quality chocolate

Method:

Put hulled and sliced strawberries in a bowl and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of Moscato wine and the raw granulated sugar (turbinado). 

Stir and set aside on the counter top for about 30-45 minutes.

Whip the Mascarpone by hand with a spoonula until fluffy in a bowl large enough to accommodate the whipped cream eventually.

Separately, in a stand mixer, whip the cream and confectioner's sugar and both vanillas until very soft peaks form.
Lighten the Mascarpone with 1/3 of the very lightly whipped cream.  You want it to be loose.
Finish whipping the remaining cream to firm peaks and fold the rest of the whipped cream into the Mascarpone mixture.  Add 2 tablespoons Moscato to the creamed mixture and stir until incorporated.

Place 1 cup of Moscato wine in a shallow bowl and rapidly dip each lady finger in the wine and layer them into bottom of small glass baking dish or small trifle dish - one layer.  Don't dip until ready to place in dish.  I am taking a portion to a friend so I purchased some disposable 8 cup plastic containers so they don't have to think about returning dishes to me and they will be a smaller portion...perhaps not as pretty, but certainly more transportable.  Five of the Alessi lady fingers fit perfectly in the bottom of each of my containers - check with dry lady fingers before dipping so you know how they are going to fit in your container. 

Place them sugar side up after dipping.
Spoon a thin layer of whipped cream and Mascarpone mixture over the lady fingers and gently spread using an offset spatula.

Layer 1/2 of the strawberries over the whipped cream (in my case 1/4 as I was making two smaller portions).

Spread another thin layer of the of the whipped cream and Mascarpone mixture over the strawberries.

Layer another layer of lady fingers, dipped in wine, over the whipped cream mixture (the last layer had 6 lady fingers because my container was wider at the top).

Repeat process ending with whipped cream mixture. 

To summarize, I got 3 layers of lady fingers, 2 layers of strawberries and 5 layers of cream mixture, topping the last batch of lady fingers with just the cream mixture.

Refrigerate to set up and allow the lady fingers to soften before serving.  At least an hour or two.

Decorate the top of the dessert with "pretty" strawberries and more whipped cream if you desire. Dust with finely grated quality chocolate before serving.

I ran out of wine on the very last bit of lady fingers...so I dipped them in the leftover strawberry and Moscato and sugar juice.  Cripes, that was good (I sampled a lady finger dipped to make sure that was okay and I didn't need to open another bottle).  I'm thinking that might have been the ultimate dip for the lady fingers!!!  I drank what was left in the bowl...talk about nectar!  Holy smokes!

What a great summer dessert this is, using my favorite Moscato of all time.  Thanks flipflop wine - you guys have made my summer fun!

I hope my "friend" (yet unknown who that will be) will be so kind as to comment (good or bad) about how they liked this dessert.  It's a very adult dessert - and I've never made it before... but the teen is going to enjoy a piece after dinner tonight.  I doubt there's much more than a couple of tablespoons of wine per serving after all is said and done.  I think it will be okay.

I got a little caught up with this and dinner is delayed.  I had to clean out the fridge to gather enough stuff to make tonight's dinner...I'm sure you'll read about what I ended up with if it is as tasty as it smells in the oven!!!

The teen's very decorated piece - extra whip with chocolate sauce AND grated chocolate!
He ate every single morsel on the plate!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

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