I Love Pizza...

I love pizza... Of course I can always order in or take out, but it just doesn’t do it for me. The personal satisfaction I feel when I make it myself and it actually tastes good, makes me so very happy.  I started making pizza a few years ago.  I got a pretty good and easy recipe for pizza dough, only problem was that the dough needed about 2 hours to rise, so if I wanted pizza for lunch I had to make the dough ahead of time, at which point it really would be easier to run out to a local pizzeria and get a slice.  However, about 2 years ago I got a great book called "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day", this book has changed my life for the better.  As you all know, I am a big carb lover, well imagine having dough that can sit in the refrigerator for a few weeks and can be used a bit at a time whenever you feel like it.  The recipe below is just that, you can use it to make a loaf of bread, calzone, breadsticks, flatbread, pizza, you name it.  I keep the dough in a large plastic lidded container and when it runs out I just make a new batch.  I just love being able to bake some fresh bread whenever I want, its fast, easy and so delicious.  The Pizza made with this dough has a pretty crispy crust which I love, and my new Pizza stone makes it taste that much better.  I always keep tomato sauce and cheese in my fridge, and alternate toppings, sometimes its plain, sometimes I add veggies.  The pie above has pepperoni, scallions and broccoli, but you can add any topping you like.
The Master Recipe:
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoon granulated yeast ( 1.5 packets)
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
61/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all purpose white flour
Directions:
warm water slightly, In a large mixing bowl, add yeast and salt to the water, add flour and mix until you get a uniformly moist dough.  Transfer to a large container, at least 5 QT, I have a large plastic container with a lid that I keep this in.  Let rise for about 2 hours, you will see that the dough will double, even triple in size, and that’s it, once it rises, you can store in the fridge for a few weeks, this dough usually doesn’t last longer than 2 weeks in my fridge because I’m always making something.  By the 2nd week, you will see that the dough will slightly change color and smell, thats because it turns into a sourdough which is even more delicious. 
For the Pizza, roll out, add sauce and cheese, and any other topping you like and bake at 450 degrees for about 10-12 minutes.  Enjoy!
Some of my creations below.

peperroni, spinach and red pepper pie



peperroni and cheese roll



bread rolls



Polenta...

Polenta has never been on my radar, until Sunday.  I was watching the food network and Melissa D'arabian, the host of Ten Dollar Dinners, was making polenta.  I have never made it before but the show really sparked my curiosity about this dish, I had to try it.  I may have had polenta in a restaurant but didnt really have any recollection of when and where, obviously it wasn't that memorable, so when I was making it I really had no idea what it will taste like.  Sometimes its good not to have any expectations because when a dish comes out great its that much more exciting. I'm sure polenta can be made many different ways, mine came out rich, creamy, and sooo delicious.  I really didnt even have a recipe, all I remembered from the show was that its a 7 to 1 ratio, 7 parts liquid and 1 part polenta.  Also on the show, a slow cooker was used to finish it off, I don't own one so mine was just cooked over the stove on very very low heat for about 30 minutes. This was an experiment so I didn't serve it with anything, but I can see serving this under some type of meat, like a veal/pork chop, or some kind of a roast.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 table spoons yellow corn meal
few dashes of salt
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
In a nonstick saucepan, bring the milk and polenta to a boil over medium heat, stirring with a whisk.  Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about half hour, stirring with a wooden spoon every few minutes, once its gets thick that it starts pulling away from the pan, add the cheese, mix some more, cook for another 2 minutes and done.  Enjoy!

Insane Brownies!

I love a moist fudgy brownie, but never really had a great recipe.   I have to thank my mother-in-law indirectly for this recipe, because when asked what I wanted for one of my 8 Hanukkah presents this year, I requested a subscription to a food magazine, after all, my inspiration has to come from somewhere.  When I saw the cover of the February issue of bon appetit magazine and a recipe inside, I just couldn't help myself, I had to try it.  If this brownie made the cover of a food magazine, it has to be good, and it was.  What attracted me to this recipe was that it was fairly simple with ingredients that I always have in my kitchen.  Try it for yourself, but warning, these are brownies that make you want to eat the entire tray, no joke.
Why are these so good?? because they have that hard top and a fudgy moist center.  The recipe called for walnuts which I included, I'm sure they can be left out if you don't like nuts.
Ingredients:
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut in 1" pcs
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs-chilled
1/3 cup plus 1 TB spoon unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon water
1 cup walnuts pieces
preheat oven to 325 degrees, position rack in bottom third of the oven
line 8x8x2" metal pan with foil, leaving overhang on the sides so you can pick it up later, and coat with cooking spray
melt butter in saucepan over medium heat, continue cooking until butter stops foaming and browned bits start forming on the bottom, stir often, about 5 min total.
remove from heat, immediately add sugar, cocoa, water, vanilla and salt, stir to blend
leave to cool for 5 minutes
add eggs, one at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each addition
when mixture looks thick and shiny, add flour and stir to blend.
beat vigorously 60 strokes, stir in nuts. transfer to pan.  Bake for about 25 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs., cool on a rack, then lift foil and cut into pieces, I used a wet knife to cut and cleaned it often, because it got get very fudgy.
These are amazing, enjoy!!!

Nutella Cake

Nutella makes everything better. I know some people that cant be in the same room as nutella without consuming the entire jar, that's how good it is.  Nutella is in the same family as peanut butter and Dulce de leche, its a spreadable chocolate that you can use on just about anything.  I have made mini sandwiches with nutella and banana, you can spread on a crepe, or eat with a spoon right out of the jar. In my house, I have to hide peanut butter from my husband so he doesn't eat the entire jar, luckily he doesn't have the same taste buds for Nutella, so I can leave it sitting around for as long as I want until I'm ready to make my delicious Nutella pound cake.  I got this recipe from some food magazine, and one day decided to test it out, little did I know, this would become the Nutella cake everyone talks about.  Its the perfect combination of a moist cake and chocolate that runs throughout the cake, keeps great the next day as long as you keep it covered or in foil.  This recipe makes a pretty big pound cake,  so make sure you have a large loaf pan, otherwise, I sometimes divide this recipe in half to make a smaller cake.

ingredients:
2 sticks - room temperature unsalted butter ( has to be soft)
1 1/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs  at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
13 ounce jar of nutella
preheat oven to 325 degrees, grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan
lightly beat together eggs and vanilla in a bowl

mix flour, salt and baking powder in another bowl

with an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar at medium until fluffy,  gradually add the egg mixture until fully incorporated.  Add flour mixture in 3 batches at low speed until just incorporated. and mix for 30 seconds.

spread 1/3 of mixture in your pan, then spread 1/3 of nutella, continue with another layer of batter, another layer of nutella and the last layer of batter.  Top with remaining nutella, drop in dollops all over top and swirl the nutella with a knife or toothpick, do not over mix.

bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan.  This cake is soooo good, try for yourself.



Easy to spot jar in your supermarket



Fast and Easy Stir Fry

If you are in the mood for Chicken and Vegetable stir fry but not in the mood for a Chinese take out menu, the answer is my Fast and Gourmet Blog. This recipe is super easy and delicious.  How many times have you eaten Chinese take out and wondered if the meat was really chicken?  Ok, its probably chicken, but probably the lowest grade and the least expensive.  Recently I have switched to organic chicken, I figure its probably a healthier choice, definitely more expensive but at least you know organic chickens are not fed any antibiotics.  When your stir fry is home made you can be sure that all the ingredients are to your liking.  I serve my stir fry over white rice.

Ingredients for stir fry:
1/3 red pepper

1/2 cup cauliflower

1/2 cup broccoli
1 scallion
1/2 zucchini
1/2 carrot

2-3 chicken breast

teriyaki/soy sauce

I start by slicing the chicken as thin as possible, In a wok, heat up 2 tablespoons olive oil, add chicken and stir, once the chicken turns white, I add teriyaki sauce and some soy sauce, add as much teriyaki as you like, and just a few dashes of the soy.  Add all vegetables and stir fry for about 5 minutes, make sure there is enough liquid, if not add some more teriyaki sauce.

Fast, simple and delicious, Enjoy!



cut up veggies



stir fry in my wok



Everyday Stuffing....

Why should stuffing be a Thanksgiving only dish?  In my opinion, if something is good and easy to make, it should not be made once a year, and that's why I make my Turkey Sausage Stuffing whenever I feel like it. The thing is, this dish doesn't scream out thanksgiving, so you can get away with making this any night for dinner and although it probably doesn't sound that good, trust me it is.  I was even trying to come up with another name for it, just to make it sound better and more appetizing, obviously I couldn't.  When I make this dish, it is always eaten to the last bite, so I definitely recommend you try my recipe below.  I like to serve the stuffing with some kind of beans.  This time, I made my ketchup and garlic red kidney beans.  You will be so surprised at how good these beans are.   Simply open a can of large red kidney beans, and rinse them with cold water.  In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and a crushed clove of garlic, then add about 1/3 cup of ketchup and the beans.  Stir and cook for about 2 minutes.  Done! Top with chopped dill or cilantro to make it extra fancy.. Also great cold.

Turkey Sausage stuffing:

1 lb sweet Italian turkey sausage,you can also use chicken sausage ( not cooked)

1 medium onion

2 stalks celery

1 large carrot or about 6 baby carrots

Caesar croutons

directions:

Step 1- take the meat out of the casing ( thin film that raw sausage comes in)

Place the meat in skillet with 2 TB spoon olive oil and start browning, break up into small pieces while you are cooking it, saute the sausage until golden brown.Should take about 10 minutes.

Transfer to a bowl

finely chop the onion, celery and carrots. the smaller the better

Clean the same skillet, add 1 TB spoon olive oil and saute the trio (onion, celery, carrot) in the skillet until golden. 2-3 minutes,  Add 1/3 cup water and saute for another 2 minutes.  you should have some liquid left over in your skillet.  Add this cooked mixture to the cooked sausage in the bowl.  Add about 1 cup croutons, and mix.  Let stand for about 5 minutes.  Transfer to a baking dish and top with some more croutons, as much as you like,  and bake for 25 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. Serve hot.  ( the recipe serves 2-4)  Once you try this dinner combination, you will no longer think of stuffing as a once a year dish. Enjoy!!

Quick and Easy Pasta...

As a self taught chef, I often rely of cooking shows, books, web, etc. for my culinary skills and techniques.  My idea of good tv is the Food Network or any other channel with food related content.  If food is the subject, I'm listening, so it should not come as a surprise that one day while walking to work from Penn Station I got a flyer with a recipe and of course it got my attention.  The recipe was from the new cookbook written by one of the "Housewives of New Jersey" from the popular bravo TV show.  Although Teresa Giudice is probably the last person you would expect to get a recipe from, this one caught my attention because I really did not have an authentic Italian style pasta recipe.  This was a basic pasta recipe, which I don’t even remember, but what I got from it was the technique I have been looking for.  Here is my easy and delicious way to prepare a pasta dish, all the ingredients can be interchanged, you can make this vegetarian, or with meat, chicken, seafood, and any vegetable you like.
On the dinner menu: Mezzi rigatoni with grilled chicken and broccoli. 

Ingredients:
1/2 box of Mezzi Rigatoni
1/3 cup of cut up broccoli
4-6 thin sliced chicken breast- I grilled with salt and pepper
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic-chopped
1 TB spoon butter

Cook Pasta according to instruction on the box, I cook for about 10 minutes, when the pasta is half way done, I throw in the broccoli to cook with the pasta.  In a large skillet, sauté the chopped onion in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil until golden, about 3 minutes, add garlic, cook for another minute, then and butter.  Once the butter is dissolved, add about 1/3 cup of the water from the pasta pot, you will see that you now have a nice sauce, season with Salt and pepper. Drain the pasta and add into the skillet along with the grilled chicken, mix, and cook for another 1-2 minutes.  Save a bit of the pasta water, in case you need to add a little more to the sauce.  If your skillet is not big enough, you can add the sauce to the pot that you cooked the pasta in.  Garnish with freshly grated parmesan cheese.  Done!! Simple, quick and delicious.  Enjoy :O)

Fast and Gourmet: Yana's Test Kitchen- Popovers and more...

Fast and Gourmet: Yana's Test Kitchen- Popovers and more...: "I just couldn't wait to test it, Wednesday night I experimented the BLT recipe for popovers and more...

Yana's Test Kitchen- Popovers and more...

I just couldn't wait to test it, Wednesday night I experimented the BLT recipe for popovers I posted on my previous blog, and to my delight, they were amazing, and just as delicious as they were in the restaurant.

The only adjustment I made was dividing the recipe into 4 because I didn't want to make too many.

My popover recipe below, which makes 6 huge popovers in a muffin pan.

1 cup warm milk

2 eggs

1 cup flour sifted with 1/2 TB spoon of salt

1/2 cup of coarsely grated cheese, I used Parmesan
directions: Preheat oven to 350 and place the muffin pan into the oven so it gets hot. Beat the eggs until they get a little volume, add warm(not hot) milk, slowly add the flour until smooth.
Once the oven is preheated and the muffin pan is hot, take it out, spray each tin with Pam, as well as on top because these babies get big, fill each tin 3/4 way and top with cheese, bake for 50 minutes.  After 15 minutes, turn the pan 180 degrees.  Not only are these delicious, but they are so easy to make and will impress everyone, including yourself.
I couldn't stop there, I also tested out a new recipe I came up with which was inspired by the brussel sprouts I had at BLT Prime.  For Dinner I made Mashed potatoes, grilled chicken with sweet chili sauce and my new bacon brussel sprouts.  Mashed potatoes are easy, just boil water, add salt, add cut up potatoes, I used 5 Idaho potatoes, when soft, drain water, add a little butter and about half cup warm milk, mash until smooth.

I grilled about 6 thin sliced chicken breasts after seasoning with salt, pepper and paprika on both sides, grill until the center of the thickest part is white.  I top the cooked chicken with sweet chilli sauce.

For the brussel sprouts,

4 slices bacon- finely chopped

10 large brussel sprouts- chopped see below image

1 small onion- chopped

directions: fry bacon in a skillet until brown, add onion and continue to saute until golden, no need to add any oil to the pan because the bacon produces alot.  Add brussel sprouts, continue to sautee for about 8 minutes, season to taste with salt and pepper.  I knew this dinner combo will be good, but even I surprise myself sometimes.  Husband went for seconds and thirds, need I say more??  Happy cooking!!!



brussel sprouts cooking





finely chopped brussel sprouts



bacon should get brown

Ravioli and BLT Prime

                                         Consider this post a 2 for the price of 1 because Ravioli

                                          has absolutely nothing to do with BLT Prime.

Monday night I had dinner at BLT Prime in Manhattan, on 22nd between Park and Lex.  For those who have never been, I highly recommend, if for no other reason but to taste something very unique, Popovers.  Ive heard of popovers, but never tasted them and even if I did, I'm sure they could never compare to BLT's popovers.  I'm not even sure they are on the menu because they were brought out after we placed our dinner order.  These huge warm balls of dough topped with Gruyere cheese come right out of the oven to your table and are sooo good and will be devoured sooo fast, you will be left wishing that you had a recipe to make these yourself.  How surprised do you think I was to find the recipe right on the table after they were all gone, that's right, yours truly has the recipe and I'm willing to share.  Although these popovers were definitely the highlight of the night, the dinner itself was excellent.  I took a picture of my pretty plate with a filet mignon and all 6 side dishes that were delicious.  Sweet potato mash, stuffed mushroom(which was my least favorite) creamed spinach, mac and cheese, roasted asparagus and really amazing brussel sprouts.  The thing about me and my love for new restaurants is that I love trying new dishes that I can incorporate into my own cooking, and I hit jackpot not only on the popovers but also on the brussel sprouts. They were fried with onions and bacon, and you can be sure that sometime in the near future, I will be posting a recipe that will resemble the dish from BLT.

So this brings me back to my own kitchen and our Tuesday night dinner. I made Ravioli with Chicken Sausage. Who doesn't like Ravioli?? Pasta with some kind of delicious stuffing, what can be bad?  My earliest childhood cooking memory was watching my Mom make hundreds of ravioli, I was fascinated with the whole process and just wanted to make some myself.  However 20 plus years later I still have not tried my luck at making my own, so I delegate the responsibility to Trader Joe's which sell very good 4 cheese  ravioli that take 8 minutes to boil :O)

Meanwhile, in a skillet I saute a large onion, I cut in thin rings and then cut those rings in half, once the onions are golden, I add cut up cooked chicken sausage, (sweet Italian also from trader joe's) and saute the onions and sausage for about 5 minutes, I then add about half cup chopped fresh spinach, for nutritional purposes and for the pretty green color it adds. By this point, the ravioli should be fully cooked, I drain the water from the pot and add the ravioli to the skillet with the sausage, mix together, cook for another minute or 2 and done.  Fast, delicious and another home cooked meal idea for you to try.

Enjoy.

As promised, the popover recipe.  *Disclaimer, i haven't tried this recipe yet, but will very soon.

Popovers
Makes 12
Ingredients
4 cups milk, warmed
8 eggs
4 cups flour
1-1/2 heaping Tbsp salt
2-1/4 cups grated Gruyere cheese
Preparation
Place the popover pan in the oven.  Heat the oven and pan to 350 degrees.  Gently warm the milk over low heat and set aside.  Whisk the eggs until frothy and slowly whisk in the milk (so as not to cook the eggs).  Set the mixture aside.  Sift the flour with the salt.  Slowly add this dry mixture and gently combine until mostly smooth.
Once combined, remove the popover pan from the oven and grease LIBERALLY — the top as well as inside the cups.  While the batter is still slightly warm or room temp (definitely not cool), fill each popover cup 3/4 full.  Top each popover with approximately 2 Tbsp of the grated Gruyere.
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, rotating pan half a turn after 15 minutes of baking.  Remove from the oven, remove from the pan and serve immediately.