Saturday, February 25, 2012

Buffa's Birthday Pizza with Sweet Onions


Happy Birthday Buffa!
This pizza pie is for you (even though we ate all of it). It has simple ingredients that come together for a pizza party in your mouth. The sauce here is caramelized onions, spread all over the top. The dough recipe is a new one, but it came out great. You can half it and make two thin crusts, but I used all of it for one and it was doughy and fluffy.... Enjoy.

The toppings you'll need:
- Caramelize 2 onions in a pan- 20-30 minutes, deglaze with a few drops of balsamic vinegar.
- Cook 6 slices of bacon, then chop
- Goat cheese
- Fresh mozarella/bocconcini, sliced
- Chopped, fresh parsley
- Handful of fresh arugula
- Olive oil, salt, pepper.

For the dough:
- In the morning prep your dough.
- In a large bowl, put 1 and 1/2 cup warm to hot water. Sprinkle with 1 tsp pizza yeast and a tbsp olive oil, and a dash of sea salt. Wait 5 minutes until foamy.
- Next add 1 cup all purpose flour and mix well with a wooden spoon. Let sit for 5 minutes and add another 2 cups of flour. Now you judge, maybe you need more... but keep using your spoon to stir/mix, until it doesn't stick to the bowl anymore. No kneading needed!
- Allow dough to rest in an oiled bowl for the day.
- Two hours before dinner, punch it down, and roll it out on a floured surface.
- Place it on a long baking tray and brush with good olive oil.
- Slide it in the oven and let it rise again- two hours.

Assemble and bake!
- Preheat oven to 450. Nice and hot.
- Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then remove add all toppings except arugula and parsley. - Be sure to spread your onions on like you would a sauce.
- Bake for another 10-12 minutes.
- Remove the pizza and top with arugula and parsley.
- Drizzle olive oil on top, cut and serve!



Moo-frickin' licious.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Lemon and Cranberry Cake with Pina Colada Frosting

This cake is a nice twist on lemon loaf. It's quite similar, actually, but the cranberries and frosting give it a little more zing. Enjoy.
You can also use a whisk for this, so no need to clean all sorts of electric equipment.

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl, whisk together 5 tbsps salted, softened butter and 3/4 cup sugar, a drop of pure vanilla extract, zest of a lemon. Add 3 small eggs to this and mix well.

In a medium bowl, whisk 1 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 tsp each baking soda and baking powder and 1/3 cup fresh cranberries.

In a measuring cup, put 1/4 cup milk and 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice.

Now, mix together ingredients in 3 batches, milk/flour alternating.

Pour in loaf dish and bake for 40minutes.

Remove and brush loaf with mixture of 1-1 tbsp sugar and lemon juice, on all sides.


For the icing:
Mix together 1 cup icing sugar, 1/4 cup shredded coconut, spritz of lemon, 3 tbsps unsalted butter, a sprinkle of vanilla extract and a few drops of yellow food color.
You can judge the consistency and add more amounts of each, depending how you like it.
Spread on cake once it has cooled.


Moolicious!!!



Filet Mignon with Herbed Egg Noodles and Asparagus


Here's my favorite Valentine's day dinner. It really takes about 15 minutes to come together, so you have more time to snuggle and share a romantic dessert ;)


1. Allow two nice filet mignons to sit at room temperature, season with sea salt and pepper.
2. Prep your pots. One large pot with water for pasta and asparagus and a frying pan with oil for your shrimp and use the same pot for your mignons.
3. Clean and chop the ends off your asparagus, set aside.
4. Chop 3 nice cloves of garlic.
5. Prep a large serving bowl for the shrimp-pasta. In the bowl, put a couple tbsps olive oil, dry parsley, basil, oregano, a dash of red pepper flakes, lemon zest and juice and some of the chopped garlic, and a few pats of butter.
6. Heat up water and your frying pan, cook garlic and shrimp in the oil and put in large bowl, then in the same pan, heat up oil and put filets in, 2 mins on each side, if you like it rare.
7. Cook asparagus and noodles together. I used a package of fettuccine egg noodles...they take about 6 minutes. Put noodles over the shrimp and mix. Add Romano cheese. Done.
8. Assemble your plates and eat!!!!!




Moolicious!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Comfy Chicken Pot Tartlets


Here is a healthy, romantic spin on chicken pot pie...for you and your lover to enjoy on Valentine's Day. Skip the cream and use a can of evaporated milk...yum.

You'll need:

- 12 small tart shells
- 4-5 large boneless skinless chicken thighs
- some cornstarch ...maybe a tbsp
- 1 sliced shallot and one minced clove of garlic
- 1 medium diced carrot
- 5-6 sliced mushrooms
-1/4 cup peas
- herbs/spices....dash of thyme, dry basil, dry parsley, cayanne pepper, salt and pepper
-1 can evaporated milk.

1. Bake tarts at 425 for about 12 minutes, remove and allow to cool.
2. In a large pot, heat up some oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper and cook until well done and golden brown. Remove and allow to cool.
3. Drain some of the fat, next saute the shallot and garlic and diced carrot for about 6 minutes. Add in the mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes.
4.Sprinkle in cornstarch and let it absorb into the oil and veggies, then add a splash of water and your can of milk. Let it thicken.
5. When chicken has cooled, chop it in bite sized pieces and add to the pot with the herbs/spices.
6. Remove from heat, add frozen peas.
7. When mixture has cooled, spoon it in tarts, top with some Romano cheese and bake for 15 minutes or so.

Cool and enjoy!


Moolicious!