Margie's Birthday Dinner!

Since my mom's birthday this year fell on the same day we had a wedding to attend, we decided to cook for her the weekend before and make it extra special. Extra special in my mind is using the best ingredients + making everything homemade :)!

Menu:

Clams & Shrimp in a white wine sauce

Bucatini with cream sauce

Beignets with Gelato

Recipes:

Seafood Starter: In a large stockpot over medium heat, combine 2 cups dry white wine, shallots finely chopped, garlic finely chopped, and salt. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the seafood (shrimp always last). Cover and increase the heat to high. Cook until clams are open- about 5 minutes (depending on how many clams you put in). Stir in about 6 tablespoons of butter and some chopped fresh parsley. Remove the Seafood and add thickening agent to the broth. Let thicken for a few minutes and serve seafood with sauce on top and a loaf of bread to dip!! 

*Make sure to clean the seafood

*Measurements will change depending on the amount of seafood used

Homemade Pasta Dough: 1 egg (farm fresh) and 3/4 cup flour (Italian 00 Flour) produces about 5-6 ounces of fresh pasta- I multiplied this by 6 for my family of 6 :) Mix the dough in a KitchenAid or Food Processor fitted with a dough attachment. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. Roll out the pasta and then section into balls (golf ball size). Turn KitchenAid on, add dough, and watch the pasta come out!!! Cut at desired length. 

*Make sure pasta is not sticky before putting into KitchenAid pasta attachment. 

Sauce: 1 stick of unsalted butter, 1 pint heavy cream, garlic, salt/pepper, pancetta. Cook pancetta on the skillet, remove and put on paper towel. Add butter and garlic to the pan and simmer. Add cream and let simmer heavily stirring every now and then. Simmer for about 5-7 minutes until sauce thickens. Add salt and pepper. When pasta is done, drain and put right into the sauce. Toss and add parmesean. Top with parsley and pancetta.  

Beignets: 

Ingredients

1 cup lukewarm water

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg- room temp & beaten

2 tbsp butter, softened

1/2 cup evaporated milk

4 cup bread flour 

3 tsp instant active dry yeast

Vegetable Oil for cooking- enough to cover beignets when frying

Powdered Sugar & Cinnamon/Sugar mixture for dusting

Directions

Place water, sugar, salt, egg, butter, evaporated milk, flour & yeast in a bowl. Beat with a dough hook until smooth. Turn the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and form into an oval. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled- 3 to 4 hours. Remove from refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into 3 inch squares. In a large pot, heat vegetable oil to 365. Fry the beignets for 2-3 minutes or until they are puffed and golden brown on both sides, only turning them once or twice with tongs. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with topping or shake beignet in a bag full of mixture to coat nice and even. Serve with gelato and coffee :)  

Homemade Mini Donuts!!!!

Girls taco night turned into, "now what can we make for dessert?"!! Of course Pinterest ALWAYS provides the best recipes and with Jenny around, we were in good hands :) The donuts are baked, ridiculously easy to make, & SO delicious!! The mini donut pan is available at Sur La Table. Ours was given to us by Drew & Sahar as an engagement present and is quite the addition to our bakeware.  I recommend making these especially when you have people over, or you will just end up eating them all yourself ;)

Ingredients

• 5 TBSP unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
for the topping
• ¼ cup butter, melted
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF
2. Lightly oil mini donut pan and set aside (alternatively you can use mini muffin pans)
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar
4. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and mix until combined (mixture will look curdled)
5. Mix in the baking powder, then the salt
6. Mix in the flour just until combined
7. If using mini donut pan, transfer mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip or into a ziplock baggie with the tip cut off. Pipe into the pan only filling ½ of the way fill. If using the mini muffin pan, fill each well ½ full
8. Bake at 325ºF for 8-10 minutes
9. Allow to cool slightly before dipping in topping
10. Melt the butter for the topping and combine the cinnamon and sugar
11. Dip each donut lightly in butter then roll in cinnamon and sugar

Egg Salad with a Twist

Egg salad is not a really popular sandwich... But on Pinterest it is! And now I see why!! Time to change this old fashioned recipe into something more delicious! ....by adding some avocado :) I also used Light Canola Mayo to remove the cholestorol and fat that Greg and I don't need to be consuming!! Toast the bread, add a few shakes of paprika on top, and every couple bites throw some hot sauce on there :) However, since I just found out a few years ago how MUCH I like hot sauce, I kind of put it on EVERYTHING! mmmm gooooood!

PS check out my new favorite blog: (food blog of course) http://www.bonappetempt.com/

Homemade is the way to go!

I have been noticing homemade bread recipes all over pinterest lately. I noticed one recipe was done inside a Le Creuset Dutch Oven. I knew I needed to try this! Along the same lines, Greg and I are into the new show The Taste. One of the challenges was making sandwiches. I was craving making homemade bread and my Fiancé was craving a delicious sandwich... It became the perfect idea. 

I made the homemade bread, which by the way came out fantastic and I could NOT believe how little work went into it. And Greg was able to build a delicious sandwich. Grilled chicken, avocado ranch dressing (yes that is just avocados mashed up into ranch dressing), hardboiled eggs, lettuce, tomato, bacon, cheese, all between 2 pieces of homemade bread :)

homemade bread ready for consumption

sandwich and fries for a casual but satisfying dinner

Recipe

Ingredients:

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour, 1 3/4 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon yeast, 1 1/2 cups water. 

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour, salt, and yeast. Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12-18hrs. I did this overnight. 

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. When the oven is ready, place pot with lid in the oven and heat for 30 minutes. Pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap until pot is ready. Remove hot pot from the oven and drop in the dough. Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes. 

Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack. 

A note I would like to highlight is in reference to Le Creuset's knob. Mine broke off :( from the high temperature. The dutch oven itself is fine and the bread came out great. I googled replacement tops and found one that is stainless steel so it can handle any temperature. If you don't want to replace yours though, I would unscrew the knob before baking and then put it back on when you are done. 

Eat up!!!! The bread cane be altered in any way... add some chopped olives to the dough or some roasted garlic and make the bread even more delicious!

GO NINERS!

Today was a big sports day at our house... Niners playing the Falcons, YAY we are going to the Super Bowl, and the Sharks first game of the season!!!! Let's be honest, sports are entertaining to watch but are way better with delicious food & drinks :) With that said, Greg and I picked a few items to make!!

BBQ Wings

Asparagus Fontina Tart

No Bake Oreo Bars

We washed it down with a beer, Session, that is new to us.. and very delicious. Light & perfect for a warm day!

BBQ Wings Recipe:

Marinate chicken overnight with your favorite BBQ Sauce, worcestershire, and brown mustard. The next morning we took the chicken out and dipped it in flour. Then we baked the wings in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (roughly) each side. Flip them and do another 20 mins. After they were done we put them in an electric skillet with some extra BBQ sauce. Serve when ready to eat!

Wings.. half eaten :)

Asparagus Fontina Tart Recipe

Ingredients

Flour- for work surface. 

1 Sheet frozen puff pastry- defrosted

2 Cups shredded Gruyere, Fontina or Emmenthaler cheese

1 1/2 pounds asparagus

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400. On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry into a 16X10 inch rectangle. Place pastry on a baking sheet. With a sharp knife, lightly score the dough 1 inch in from the edges to mark a rectangle. Using a fork, pierce the dough inside the markings. Bake until golden- about 10-15 minutes. 

Remove pastry shell from oven. Sprinkle cheese and arrange the asparagus on top in a single layer alternating ends and tips. Brush with oil, season with salt and pepper. Bake until spears are tender, 20-25 minutes. Cut up and serve.  

No Bake Oreo Bars

This is basically rice crispy treats but sans the rice krispies and add ground up Oreos mmm! These were yummy but very dense so quite filling.

Ingredients:

1 package Oreos

5 cups large marshmallows, which is 40 marshmallows

4 tablespoons butter

Directions:

Butter an 8X8 dish. Line with wax paper allowing the paper to overhang slightly on both ends. Butter wax paper. In a food processor, pulse Oreos until ground. Melt the butter and marshmallows in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Stir the Oreo mixture into the marshmallow and butter mixture. Transfer to prepared baking pan. Using some wax paper, push the mixture down. Let sit until hardened, about 10 minutes, cut up & serve. 

See you at the Super Bowl Ravens!!!