Classic Bolognese

Mmmmm there's something about a bowl of pasta with really good sauce, it just screams warmth and family and comfort. This is a great recipe, extremely easy and is best made when you have a little time on your hands..the longer this simmers the more flavorful the sauce. This is a pretty large recipe, feel free to cut everything in half.

Tip: I like making large amounts of sauces because they save really well, and can be used in different dishes. I always make lasagna with leftover sauces. 

Ingredients:

4 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion chopped

4 large garlic cloves crushed

2 carrots, chopped small

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

2 1/2 cups red wine 

2 14oz cans of stewed or chopped tomatoes (i use stewed and break them apart before cooking)

1/2-1 small can tomato paste

3 bay leaves

Sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, italian season blend to taste

2 lbs lean ground beef 

7 slices (sometimes come round) pancetta, chopped

Serve with fresh pasta of your liking and grated parmesean cheese

Directions:

In a large, deep cooking pan heat the olive oil and fry the chopped pancetta over medium heat until golden brown, careful not to burn. Add in onions and garlic, cooking until softened. 

Increase heat to medium-high and add in ground beef. Cook, mixing to ensure even cooking, until meat is browned. Pour in the red wine and boil over medium-high heat until the volume has reduced by about 1/3 to 1/2. As sauce starts to reduce, mix in about 1/2 of a small can of tomato paste, sauce should be nice and thick at this point.

Reduce the heat to low, add tomatoes, about 2 healthy pinches of salt and pepper, and a few dashes of italian blend seasoning. Cover and simmer for at least an hour. Feel free cook longer, stiring occasionally. Right before your ready to serve, toss in your fresh basil, stir and cook another 5 minutes before serving.

Buon Appetito! 

Spinach and Herb Cheese Stuffed Salmon

I love recipes that make me feel fancy, who doesn't like feeling fancy? This is one of those extremely simple that somehow turns into a beautiful meal, using less than 5 main ingredients. You'll notice that one of my favorite methods of cooking is used here...both searing and baking in a cast-iron skillet. This is a technique you can use for everything from steaks to fish and chicken, it gives the meal a great restaurant taste and locks in some amazing flavor. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 8oz container plain philadelphia cream cheese

1/2 cup (not packed) shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 of a 5.2oz package of Boursin Garlic and Herb Cheese

Fresh spinach - Approx 4-5 large leaves per portion of salmon (see information on salmon cut below)

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup oil 

Sea Salt, Fresh Cracked Pepper and Thyme to taste

Kitchen Yarn (please do not try to subsitute with anything that might also be found in a pre-k art class, we don't want to set houses on fire now do we)

Cut of Salmon:

In your local grocery's seafood department, look for a whole fillet of Salmon. Take the whole filet to the seafood counter and request that they cut the fish in half length-wise from head to tail (---), then in half again width-wise ( | ), and butterfly each quarter. This will leave you with 4, thin fillets that will be easily stuffed. 

Cuts: 

Photo Credit: Northwest-Seafood.com

Directions:

In a medium sized bowl, mix together your three cheeses and season to taste with approximately 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper and 1 tsp Thyme. Set aside. 

Cut 8 6-7 inch pieces of kitchen yarn. I'm going to reiterate the need to use yarn that explicitely says "kitchen yarn". Set aside.

Season one side of each salmon portion with a healthy amount of salt, pepper and thyme. Transfer one portion onto a plate, seasoned side down. Press down a layer of fresh spinach, top off with a health spoonful of the cheese mixture.

Carefully roll the salmon by tucking the smaller, tail end over the stuffing, then rolling to make a fully enclosed, stuff salmon filet. Tie snuggly with kitchen yarn, aprox 1/2 to 1 inch away from each end.

Repeat this process with all 4 fillets. 

In a oven safe cast-iron skillet, heat oil and butter until piping hot. Carefully, using tongs or a long spoon/fork, place salmon roles in skillet. It's okay for them to be close. 

Sear on each side for approximately 3-4 minutes until they develop a nice color and begin to crisp on edges. 

While fish is searing, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Once you are done searing the salmon on each side, place your skillet in the oven. 

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes then flip salmon over. Bake another 5-10 minutes at 350, then increase the temperature to 425 for the remaining 10-15 minutes until the outside develops a deep golden brown color. Your inside will still be moist and flaky.

Carefully remove the pan from the oven, let cool a tad and serve with your choice of side. I served with mashed potatoes..because that's what I had leftover in the fridge from the night before.

Buon Appetito!

Popovers with Raspberry Butter a la Neiman Marcus

My favorite thing about brunch at Neiman's on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, well...besides being on Michigan Ave and in Chicago.. is their popovers with strawberry butter. They are the perfect treat to make you feel a little fancy, especially if brunching with the girls. Make these at home to fancy-up any breakfast or brunch get together, or just because you feel like a popover one morning. I even made myself a virgin-mimosa in a champagne glass to go with..yup.. oh you fancy huh?!

Ingredients:

3 1/2 c. warm whole or 2% milk

6 eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp baking POWDER (not soda)

4 cups flour

Butter:

1 1/2 cups Butter (I'm newly addicted to Land o' Lakes Olive Oil & Sea Salt butter)

1 c. raspberry preserves (any preserves works really, you can also mix different preserves. Try raspberry and blueberry. Yum!)

Directions:

Sift dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Crack eggs into the bowl of a large mixer and beat on medium until eggs are frothy and light yellow. Turn mixer to low and slowly add warm milk. Once blended, gradually add in flour mixture continuing to beat on low for about 3 minutes. 

Let rest for about an hour.

While your batter is resting. Blend together butter and preserves until well blended and smooth. This recipe makes about 2 good sized sticks of butter. Split the butter mix in half and spoon onto saran wrap. Fold over saran wrap and using your hands form butter into a desired shape. 

Pop both into the freezer. One you will use today, and another you can freeze and save for later! This is delicious on french toast, biscuits, and a whole range of other yummy things. 

Once your batter has rested for about an hour, in a well greased popover tin fill each cup to just below the rim. This will allow for the popovers to rise into a beautiful shape while baking. 

Preheat oven to 450. Placing the popover tin ontop of a cookie sheet, transfer to oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake another 30 minutes until popovers rise and are golden on the outside, popovers will be soft on the inside.

Enjoy with raspberry butter.

Buon Appetito! 

*Recipe adapted from Neiman Marcus cook book*

Buffalo Chicken Wontons

What's better than cheese and meat inside of fried dough? Why ranch-cheese and buffalo-chicken inside of a fried wonton rapper, of course! This is a pretty easy recipe that can be simplified even more, I'll give you cheats along the way. It's the perfect game-time snack, bbq app or late night munch. If you're like me and don't like things too spicey, don't worry - the cheese really tones down that kick nicely but still leaves that great buffalo chicken flavor.

Hint - re-use this buffalo chicken recipe! Try it on buffalo chicken nachos, a salad, a dip or even in a sandwich.

Enjoy :)

\Ingredients:

1 package wonton wrappers - will use aproximately 25-30 wrappers

1 pack chicken thighs (4) (Boneless/skinless is great, but you can also cut the skin off yourself)

1 bottle buffalo wing sauce

4 tablespoons butter, divided

6 cups oil, divided (5 cups, 1 cup)

1 c. cream cheese

1/2 round Borsin Herb & Garlic cheese

1/2 c. cheddar cheese

2 tblsp. Ranch Dressing

Thyme, Salt and Pepper 

Equipment:

Small bowl of water

Parchment paper 

Cast iron skillet

Frying skillet

1 zip-loc bag 

Directions:

First, heat 1 cup oil and 2 tbspns butter in a cast iron skillet until piping hot. While pan is heating up, season chicken on both sides with thyme, salt and pepper. Using tongs, place chicken in your hot cast iron skillet. Cook for 2-3 minutes on both sides until outside develops a nice color. Turning heat to medium-high, pour in 1 1/2 cups of buffalo sauce. Let cook about 8-12 minutes, turning over once, until sauce begins to thicken. 

While chicken is cooking, preheat your oven to 425 and move racks to center. Place chicken, in skillet, into the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes. Flip over and continue cooking another 15 minutes or until sauce is reduced and chicken is a nice, deep red color. 

While your chicken is in the oven, it's time to make the cheese sauce and prep the wontons. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, cheddar cheese, borson and ranch dressing until well combined. Spoon mixture into your zip loc bag and cut one corner. 

Lay wontons out on a large piece of parchment paper. Recipe fills about 30 wontons. Squeeze about 3/4 inch of cheese mixture diagonally in each wonton. 

At this point, your chicken should be done and ready for pulling. CAREFULLY (the pan will be extremely hot) remove your chicken from the oven. Move the pan handle away from your body, take two forks and pull the chicken apart. If you used chicken with bones, discard the bones and bits of cartiledge. Mix in remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. 

Spoon a small spoonful of pulled chicken into each wonton. Dip fingers in a bowl of water and wet edges of the wonton wrapper before folding over and sealing with your fingers. 

Heat remaining oil in the frying pan until nice and hot, about 350 degrees. (Warning, oil that's too hot will burn these quickly). Drop wontons in an even layer in hot oil, fry until light golden brown and drain on paper towel.

No need to serve with ranch, these are great as is!

Starbucks Who?!!

So, in my recent attempt at improving my status as a real live adult (I'm still in denial sometimes), I downloaded a nifty finance app called Mint.com to help me see where I'm spending my money and get a hold over my monthly budget. What does this have to do with cooking you ask? Well...take a WILD guess where a good chunk of my money went every month?

Yup.... Starbucks. That green goddess whose sign lights up the morning like no rays of sun ever can. Those cheery faces with the little green hats fixed atop their heads that have learned my favorite drink down to the number of pumps and shots (don't pretend you don't know what I mean...there's a starbucks addict in all of us). Gah! I love you but you can't have my money anymore!!! (sorry...got carried away)

Anywho, because of my recently discovered (*ahem* acknowledged if we're being completely honest) penchant for spending my hard earned money on Starbucks, I've learned how to make my own sbucks-inspired coffee's at home. I bought a reusable cold cup and now use that every morning for my very own caramel macchiato's!

Note - these recipe's are by no means as "gourmet" as they could be. These are super easy, good old tried and true coffee concoctions made with your basic ingredients you could find in the kitchen at work. Feel free to try some out with the more fancy flavored syrups. I'll note some "classy" substitutions. 

Iced Caramel Macchiato  (double for a large sized cup)

1 shot of Espresso

2 Tablespoons of Caramel

1 teaspoon/individual packets of vanilla creamer (substitute with two teaspoons of Vanilla syrup if you're fancy)

Ice (a good handful)

1 cup (about) of Milk (I use skim, if you like the taste of cow go ahead and use whole...kidding! kind of..)

Directions:

In a reusable iced-drink cup, pour in caramel and add ice. If you have a machine, brew the espresso right into the cup. If you have a different type of machine, brew your espresso and pour into cup To make as a hot drink, don't add ice (enlightening, right?). Toss in your creamer and top off with milk, if you're making a hot drink, heat your milk first (see White Chocolate Mocha recipe for tips on heating milk). Stir and taste. Add more/less caramel or milk to make sweeter or less strong. Ice will melt a tad so if you need extra ice toss it in at the end.

Voila! Caramel Macchiato (in my Wale voice).

White Chocolate Mocha (Just for you Shon!)

This recipe can be made the easy or the little bit trickier way. The easy way will be to use store-bought white chocolate sauce. The hard way is to make your own!

1 shot of espresso

1 cup milk 

2 tablespoons white chocolate sauce and 1 teaspoon/packet vanilla creamer

OR 6 tablespoons of white chocolate chips and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (fancy pants)

Ice (optional)

Directions

Iced: Add chocolate sauce and ice to a cup, brew in (or pour in after brewing) 1 shot of espresso. Add in vanilla creamer and milk to top. Stir and add more/less chocolate or milk to taste. 

Hot: Using a double boiler - or making your own by pouring water into a pan, placing a glass bowl on top and pouring milk into the glass bowl - heat milk to simmering, stirring constantly (this is how I ALWAYS heat milk). Once milk is hot, add in chocolate chips and vanilla extract. Stir constantly until choclate is melted and mixture is smooth. Pour espresso into a mug and top off with milk mixture. Be sure to taste before dumping all of the milk in! I like my coffee to taste like coffee..not sweet milk, but to each their own.

Enjoy!