Parmigiana.

Some of you may have looked at the title of this blog and thought, ‘oooh something covered in cheese. I wonder if it’s chicken or veal.’ In reality, Parmigiana specifically refers to eggplant layered with cheese and tomato, usually baked. Whenever you see Parmigiana on a menu and it is not eggplant you should technically see a surname, like chicken Parmigiana or veal Parmigiana. Likewise, when you go to those off the wall restaurants and they spell it Veal Parmesan, they are literally saying veal with Parmigiano-Reggiano, which if you don’t know what that is you need to go to a specialty market and find out. So enough yapping and on to the recipe.

This recipe has 3 parts to it. You fry, simmer and bake. The object is to have everything done efficiently, so if you fry your eggplant before you start the sauce, you’ll be waiting an hour and a half before baking. However, if you start the sauce and then fry your eggplant, you will cut down on waiting time now won’t you?

Yield: 4-5 Servings

The Sauce:
1 - 28oz Can Tutturosso Crushed Tomatoes
1 – medium onion, Finely Diced
2 – good sized garlic cloves, minced
Olive Oil
1 T of dried oregano
1 T of dried parsley
1 T of dried basil
1 t of crushed red pepper flake
2 bay leaves

Add some olive oil to a medium saucepan and warm on medium heat while you dice your onions. Add the onions and a pinch of salt to draw out moisture. You want to sweat these onions, meaning you don’t really want any color, and you want to cook them until they are just beginning to turn soft and translucent. At that point you can add your minced garlic . Let it cook for another few minutes and add your crushed red pepper. Give the pepper just enough time to release its oils before adding the crushed tomatoes and bay leaves. I like to let this simmer for about an hour before adding the oregano, parsley, and basil and cooking for about another 30-45 minutes. I like to cook my sauce until the sugars in the tomatoes are beginning to cook out and the sauce as more of an unctuous flavor as opposed to a sweet flavor. To me, when sauces are sweet I taste more of the bitterness in the seeds and pulp. In other words, cook it as long as you want.

Eggplant:
1 – Large Eggplant
Sheet pan with cooling rack
Breadcrumbs, seasoned (ours were homemade)
Egg
Flour
Blended Olive Oil (50/50 Olive and Canola)

While the sauce is simmering you can now start preparing your eggplant. Skin your eggplant and slice into long strips, about 5 mm thick. Place your eggplant on a drying rack and lightly salt both sides. This is going to draw out moisture prior to cooking and will strengthen your flavors and make the final product less watery. Let the eggplant sit for about 10-15 minutes before you dab dry with a paper towel. While it is sitting, mix the ricotta filling. Set up your breading station. We used homemade breadcrumbs and seasoned them with some parsley, oregano, salt, pepper and parmigiano-reggiano. So the process for breading is, dip in flour, dip in egg, dip in breadcrumbs, fry. Got it? I’m not going to go into specifics so if you have questions email us or comment. After frying, let them cool on the baking tray rack. This will keep them up and out of oil soaked paper towels and keeps them crisp and non-greasy.

Ricotta Filling:
10 oz of Ricotta
1 Egg
Salt
1 t Parsley
1 t Oregano
1 t Garlic Powder
Parmigiano Reggiano

Mix the ingredients in a mixing bowl. I know it has raw egg BUT, I taste it for seasoning. I suppose you can taste it first and then add the egg but that would be logical. Kids and the elderly, do not try at home.

Parmigiana:
Prepared Sauce
Prepared Eggplant
1 9x9 baking vessel
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, use as much as you like

Add a ladle of sauce to the bottom of the vessel and use it to “grease” the pan. Place a layer of eggplant, sauce, mozzarella, ricotta, shaved Parmigiano-reggiano, eggplant, sauce, mozzarella ricotta, shaved PM, eggplant etc etc….Just keep going until the vessel is full. You want the last three layers to be, eggplant, sauce, mozzarella. Throw this in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes until warmed through and lightly browned on top. Delicious. Chloe and I did a little multitasking on this one, while I was cutting she was setting up, while I was frying she was breading etc. Our own little kitchen assembly line. Plus we hadn’t seen each other in a week and it let us talk while avoiding the various walls in my apartment.

Once again, if you guys have any questions feel free to comment or email and don’t forget…recipes are guidelines, make your own changes and enjoy.

Snickerdoodles! Our First Guest Post

Today one of my best friends in the whole wide world is going to share her thoughts on baking and most importantly give us a snickerdoodle recipe! I will be bringing these to Dan after a long hard week (yea, right!) of culinary classes. I have known Heather since college where she inspired me with her already refined cooking skills, 7-layer dip perfections and weird healthy alternates like turkey burgers and tofu.

Thanks, Heather! These look delish...

"Like Chloe and Dan, I’ve had a love for food since before I can remember. I started receiving kitchen appliances in elementary school and attended Pampered Chef parties with my mom when other kids were playing dolls and riding their bikes. For the final assignment in my 7th grade home economics class (side note – do schools still do that? Am I dating myself?!) I made a pot roast while the other students made chocolate chip cookies. I also spent many summer days at my aunt’s bakery – frosting cookies, mixing icing, watching her do wonders with sugar, flour and butter. As you can tell, I love food and all things about it.

For the beginner chef, there’s a major difference between cooking and baking. Ever watched Top Chef? Choose dessert, and you’re going home. Cooking allows for creativity – view the recipe and then start your journey ad-libbing. Like something spicy? Use siracha instead of cayenne pepper sauce. Accidently add too much salt? Add a chunk of potato to draw the salt away. Baking, on the other hand, is an actual science. The measurements and ingredients are necessary for your cookies to look (and taste) like cookies. Sure, once you get the general idea of baking and the fundamentals that baking soda is not the same as baking powder, you can add your own special touch. But if it’s your first time making cookies not from slice and bake, do yourself a favor and follow the recipe.

In preparation of seeing my brother for the first time in eight months (and his wife and meeting my baby nephew for the first time!), I decided to make his favorite childhood cookie – Snickerdoodles! Recipe is my (other) favorite food blog: Annie’s Eats.

Snickerdoodles (Yields: about 30 cookies)

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups (11 1/4 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz.) granulated sugar, plus 3 tbsp. for rolling dough
2 large eggs
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon, for rolling dough

To create:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the first four dry ingredients in a small bowl. In a separate large bowl, add the butter, shortening and sugar and blend well.

Of all of the kitchen appliances I have, I’m still sans a Kitchen Aid (although on my registry…!) Annie recommends using your Kitchen Aid or another electric mixer, but there’s something powerful about creaming butter and sugar. To me, I’m enthralled watching two ingredients, one a fine grain and one a soft and sticky solid come together. Nothing you can’t do without a little elbow grease! It is important to make sure the butter is soft but cool as the recipe calls for. When working with butter and baking, if the butter is too warm or melted (watch out if you decide to nuke it in the microwave!), you run the risk of your cookies spreading too much and being flat and crisp instead of soft and chewy.

Anyways….once you creamed the butter, shortening and sugar, add your two eggs and mix together until well combined. Add the flour mixture in two batches and mix until you have dough consistency. If your dough looks sticky, put the dough in the fridge to let the butter set before making the cookies. This will help them stay soft.

Combine the sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Using a spoon or your hands, grab some dough and roll it into a ball about 1 in to 1 ½ inches wide. Roll the dough ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat until your tray is full. Take a flat-bottom cup (or use the palm of your hand) and lightly press down on the cookies until they’re about 1 ½ inches wide. Do not over flatten as the cookies will spread during baking. Repeat until finished.
Bake the cookies on the middle rack for 9-11 minutes. If you’re doing more than one tray at once, make sure to rotate the trays to ensure even baking.

Properly cool the cookies on a cooling rack and enjoy! :)

Grilled Pork Chops with Cherry Compote

Today is a big day. Dan begins culinary school, thus embarking on the journey to becoming the world's best chef, restauranteur and ultimately taking over the world. Just kidding.

Last night I made pork chops because that's both our favorite meat and also because it was on sale at Whole Foods. Here's how to make the marinade and recipe:

-Place 2-4 pork chops in a flat baking dish with a 1/4 cup of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and some slices of fresh ginger. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

-For the cherry compote, start with a chopped vidalia onion fried in some oil until soft and browning. Add a grated clove of garlic, 1/4 tsp grated ginger and a 1/2 cup of sliced pitted cherries to frying pan. Continue browning the ingredients on medium heat for approximately 10 mins.

-While you're letting the compote cook and come together, fry up your marinated pork chops on a cast iron skillet, about 4 or 5 mins on each side.
I also made some mashed red potatoes as a side, with plenty of butter of course.

Once your pork chops are ready, serve with spoonfuls of cherry compote on top. I also added fried almonds as a topping. Mmmmm, the other white meat. Enjoy!

Meet Bazil, our basil plant.

Over the past few months, Dan and I have been growing our own herbs including parsley, basil, dill and chives. This is fairly easy to do and creates a really fresh flavor to your sauces, meals and garnishes.
We start with seeds or seedlings and then transplant them to bigger pots when they're about 5 inches tall. They can grow right on your window sill indoors if you get enough sunlight. Of course, growing them outside is optimal, but if you can't, there's always grow lamps. We also use Daconil fungicide to keep the brown spots away, and Miracle-Gro, Organic Choice plant food. They also make a good garden soil for your pots.

Here's some baby basils we grew from seeds packets, courtesy of Geico (I know, didn't make any sense to me either when I got them in the mail but i'll take it!)

And once they get big enough, they will grow fairly large. Here's our pride and joy, Bazil the basil!
He needs a lot of water, almost daily, and plenty of sunshine. We keep him outside in full sunlight. Beautiful!

Buffalo Chicken Wings

If you think a restaurant is the only place you can get good buffalo wings you are poorly informed. I would even venture to guess that most restaurants don't even get them right and what you "think" are good chicken wings, are actually mediocre. The only way you'll be able to find out what good chicken wings are will be to taste them. Once you do that you'll understand what I've meant by the above. For good Chicken wings visit:

Amici (Mount Sinai, New York on route 347)
Mandalay Beach Bar (Clearwater Beach, Florida)
The Anchor Bar (Buffalo, New York)

So, when you think of the chicken wing, you should think of four things, and ranch dressing should not be one of them by the way. You've got wings, to and include, drumettes and winglets, the "sauce", blue cheese dressing, and celery. Now this is another one of those "no place to hide" recipes, as I call it. There isn't much going on so if you skimp out and get crappy ingredients, they won't knock your socks off. Lets start at the top....

Chicken wings, in their growing popularity conjoined with our ever effective capitalistic economy unfortunately inevitably yields one resort. Higher demand = Higher Prices. So, the best way around this is to buy the least processed chicken wing you can get. What do I mean by processed? I mean, buy the drummette and the little wing attached together. Cutting them apart takes a little bit of knowhow and maybe 15 minutes, but if you are making enough for a party or at least 4 people, you can definitely save some bucks. So, by your chicken from your local market. Do your best to get wings that aren't completely covered in gelatines fat and you have to make sure that they are fresh. When you get them home, rinse them under some cold water and set them on a racked baking sheet to dry. Go get your sharpest chef's knife and a poultry cutting board and take hold of one wing. Place it with the V of the drummette and wing facing away from you. If you rub your finger on the joint between those two parts you will feel a knuckle. There are a 100 different ways to actually seperate these two but basically you need to place your knife in the center of the knuckle and push down with some vigor. If you need help, call me. I'll explain in detail. Anyways....

The Sauce:
Listen, it's nice when people say, yeah I made my own bbq sauce, oooohhh I made homemade ketchup try it... But look, someone, somewhere, already figured out the best buffalo sauce recipe. There is no point in trying to duplicate it's magic, it's impossible and will probably cost you a lot of money on imported peppers. This sauce is the one and only Frank's Red Hot. It was the original sauce back in Buffalo, NY and in my opinion (and probably more than half of the rest of the countries) it makes the best wing. All you do is heat it gently in a pan and stir in cold butter until you get the desired heat level. That's it. Thats the sauce. No garlic powder, no salt, no cumin and smoked hungarian paprika. None of it. As Alton would say, all that's another post.

Blue Cheese:
I'm a big fan of making my own blue cheese. It's terribly easy and it lets you control the blue cheese you have in the dressing. I get the brown labeled store brand blue cheese from whole foods and it works excellently. Just search until you find one you like. The recipe is simple. Add a little half and half to mayonnaise until it looks like a loose chowdah. If you want a cup of dressing then it's about 1/3 cup mayo and 1/3 cup half and half. Add a little salt and garlic powder and pour in the blue cheese. I can't say how much, it just needs to be "enough." Let this sit in the fridge for at least an hour. Overnight is better but you should use it within 5 days or so.

My computer battery is running out of power and I need to wrap this up.

The best way to do the wings is:

Make sure they dry very well on the rack, you can pat them with papertowels if you get anxious. Salt them about 5 minutes prior to cooking. Heat up Canola, Peanut, Safflower etc oil to 350 degrees in a medium to small saucepan. The idea is you are going mimick deep frying (like in our hamburger recipe) for about 10-12 minutes or until they are golden brown and cooked through. Do them in batches, so you don't crowd the oil and drop the tempereture too low. That will make for a soft wing. After the wing is cooked you simply add it to the hot sauce and toss till coated. Put them right in the serving dish and repeat until all the wings are completed. They are amazing, the blue cheese is a great compliment. Need to wrap it up but I'll elaborate and re-write some stuff later.

Shepherd's Pie

What do you do with leftover ground beef from your baked ziti (see previous post) and a bag of potatoes in your cupboard that are threatening to be ready for planting? Add in a healthy vegetable of course: I chose carrots, and Voila! You have the ingredients for Shepherd's Pie.



Boil water in a 4 qt. pan and peel 5 large potatoes. Let cook for approx 10-15 minutes until just soft enough but not too soft. Mash in a separate bowl with 3 tablespoons butter, 1/3 cup of milk and a tablespoon salt. Grate a half cup of cheddar cheese into potatoes for cheesey potato topping.

Next, oil a frying pan and start browning a chopped onion with 1 tsp paprika. Add ½ pound ground beef, salt to taste, tsp dried sage, tsp parsley and 1/2 tsp celery seed. Drain excess fat from beef, then add 3/4 cup of beef broth to mixture.

Boil more water. Peel and fine chop 3 carrots. Bring to boil and add them to beef mixture. Adjust paprika and salt to taste. Now you're ready to layer the beef mixture in a casserole dish. Spread the mashed potatoes over the top. Top with grated cheese and/or paprika to finish. Bake in a 400 oven for 25 minutes or until browned. Mmmm. Enjoy!

Baked Ziti

So, it's been weeks since the last time we posted. I (Dan) have been working towards going to culinary school and while working full time, this have been quite hectic. So, we've got some leftovers and limited time and we are going to throw together a delicious baked ziti.

Baked ziti, along with half the other Italian-American meals, has only four or five central ingredients and is pretty easy to throw together. Make sure the quality of your ingredients are good, there is no room to hide.

First things first, fill a 4 quart saucepan with water and put on the range to boil.

Now the Sauce:

I started with a 28 ounce can of San Marzano Tomatoes, Crushed. Heated a couple of tbsp of olive oil in a saucepan and added 4 cloves of garlic until browned. Remove the garlic and add the tomatoes. Cooking time will depend on how you like your sauces. I like mine with a deeper cooked tomato flavor, rather than a sweet/bitter raw tomato flavor. I cooked the sauce for about 20 minutes on medium and the raw flavor was more or less cooked out. I turned the heat to low and added a tsp each of basil, red pepper flake and oregano. Stir it will and let it simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Remove it from the heat and stir in a tabelspoon of roughly chopped fresh parsely.

Add 1 pound of pasta to the water, which should now be boiling. Don't forget to salt your water as well. Cook it until it is a little less than al dente. If you fully cook it, the pasta will over cook in the oven.

Drain the pasta well and mix in 6 ounces of Ricotta cheese, 4 ounces of shredded mozzarella, 3 tbsp of freshly grated parmegiana regiana, and enough sauce to coat. Mix everything well and top with some shredded mozzarella. Cover well with tin foil and bake for 35 minutes at 350. Remove the tin foil and raise the temperate to 400 until the cheese begins to brown. Yum!

More to come soon.