Better Baked

There are certain things that I think are just better when they have been baked. Heat has a way of enhancing textures and flavors. Of course, the key is to not add too much heat or you end up with charcoal. This dish is something that I picked up from Rachel Ray and have modified slightly. Typically you start with a couple tablespoons of EVOO and some garlic in a pan. You slowly construct your own red sauce using cans of diced tomatoes and whole tomatoes that you boil down and break apart. In the meantime you boil your noodles and make a creamy cheese sauce that is added to the noodles and red sauce. This particular night I was running really short on time and decided to cheat slightly with a some red sauce from a jar along with some canned tomatoes. I do have to say that I browned up some Italian sausage to kick things up a notch. Sure ground beef and ground turkey can be great in red sauce, but there is nothing like a good Italian sausage in a pasta dish. I tossed together the sausage, noodles, and hearty red sauce in a large pan.



The garlic cream sauce started out with two cloves of diced garlic in some EVOO. Once the garlic had been given a little time to sweat I made a basic rue of butter and flour. To the rue and garlic I added two cups of milk and stirred while heating to just under a boil. Once the cream sauce was nice and hot I added 1/2 cup asiago and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese to thicken things up. This cream sauce was then poured over the top of the noodles, red sauce, and sausage. You get a really great creamy richness when you add the second sauce without having to feel like you are over doing it with all cream sauce.



The real kicker for this dish is when you sprinkle 1/2 cup of parm and 2 cups of mozzarella all over the top of the pasta. The whole thing goes under a broiler to allow for that great crispification. (You know that is a word and if it isn't it should be.) I mean who does not like crusty melted cheese? You do not have to sacrifice an hour of bake time to get that great cheese crust. You simply need to use your broiler. Your broiler is that coil on the inside top of your oven that you probably never use. The broiler trick allows this dish to have a whole new dimension that feels baked without all the time and commitment. Your broiler is your friend and I encourage you to try experimenting with other ways that it can enhance your cooking. Lets face it, pasta is better when it is baked with cheese on the top!!

Snacks..."amouse-bouche"

Who doesn't like a good snack? I think that snacks just make people smile. You can have a snack at any time of the day and it is acceptable. Tonight I had decided to make a little snack before dinner time to tide us over until our food was ready. Technically what I was making was a amuse-bouche. An amuse-bouche is something that is served to excite the taste buds before one sits down to eat their meal. The key is that it has to be only one or two bites and be an explosion of flavor in your mouth. Now I have received a fair amount of flack for this blog and the intimidation it places on other people when I visit their tables. (JIMMY!!!) Food is supposed to be fun and something that comes from the heart. Ham, apple, and cheese are three things that go wonderfully together and were the inspiration for tonight's snack.



I started by slicing an apple perpendicular to the core. I thought that this would give me the most slices with the least amount of void for any of the other goodness to fall through. I cut out the core of the apple after slicing the apple. These slices were placed on a hot cast iron pan to warm up and caramelize slightly. Meanwhile, I added a slice of Virginia ham to the pan to start heating. A slice of raclette cheese was added to the ham before I folded it up into a nice little pocket. On top of the ham I shaved some aged Gouda for more depth of flavor. All of this heated up and melted the cheese into a cheese into the ham and made a creamy gouy treat. The ham and cheese were then placed atop the apple so that the apple could act as a edible base.



This amuse-bouche was inspired by a kicked up grilled cheese that I like to make in the winter months. My encouragement to you would be to think of some of your favorite dishes and deconstruct them to make smaller, yet equally as flavorful, dishes. Snacks do not have to come from a box or consist of basic meat and cheese. Meat and cheese can be an incredible burst of flavor in your mouth if you take a few easy steps. Remember, heat can really help fruit to come to life. Cook outside the box, you will not be disappointed. Plus you can impress your friends with fun words like, "amuse-bouche!!"

Unbeatable Breakfast

I love breakfast!! I have loved breakfast since I was a toddler. My mom loves to tell the story of me pulling my highchair across the kitchen floor saying, "brefast." I love all things that appear on the breakfast menu. Pancakes, french toast, eggs, omelets, hash browns, caramel rolls, even toast all make my mouth happy. Oatmeal, muesli, fresh fruit, and country potatoes all are things that I would love to eat at any hour of the day. I have blogged multiple times about how you can make a better breakfast in your own kitchen than you can buy at most places serving breakfast. However, there are certain establishments that can whip up food that will have you wanting to come back every morning of your life. A great breakfast joint is the diamond that exists in the rough of our American landscape. Whenever I visit a new location I always am looking for that one breakfast joint that will have me dreaming about the next time I visit that area. Cheyenne Crossing in the Black Hills of South Dakota is one of those places. BBQ on Broadway in Truth or Consequences is another one of those places that serves up eats that I would get up earlier than usual to devour. The Candy Shop in Bayfield Wisconsin serves up a breakfast item that I would drive four hours one way to get a piece of any day of the week.

Al's Diner in Dinkytown by the University of Minnesota is that place for me here in the Cities. Friday morning I made a trip to Al's with three friends just for a great breakfast and some fellowship. The next breakfast I ate in Minnesota was at Al's on Monday morning!! I chose to woke up at 5:40 am just to meet with a friend for a celebratory birthday breakfast. Who gets up at 5:40 on their day off to drive some place to get breakfast? Someone who has tasted the goodness that comes off the griddle at Al's. Sure Al's only has 12 squeaky off kilter stools that are lined up in a space that is about as wide as a single car garage. When you taste the goodness that is served over the counter at Al's, you will know. The pancakes are deliciously buttery and melt in your mouth. The hash browns are so crisp and golden brown on the outside while remaining creamy and moist on the inside. The omelets are fluffy and bursting with fillings. Although the line at Al's will sometimes have you waiting down the block, it is always worth the wait. If you have never been to Al's in Dinkytown you must go the next time you are in the Minneapolis metro area. You will never forget it. What I really want to know though is where is your favorite breakfast spot that I need to hit when I am in your area?

Bowled Over

Blogging is something that has to come last on my things to do, at least at this point. Today's post is on something that I have always loved to have in my kitchen, bowls. Baking will always be my first love, and in baking you need lots of bowls. Think about all the recipes that ask you to mix the dry ingredients in one vessel and the wet ingredients in another vessel. When I open my cupboard I have far more bowls than any other culinary vessel, and I like it that way. A plethora of bowls allows you to make numerous dishes without ever having to get your hands wrinkle in the dishwater!! Growing up, my mom always had this set of three nesting stainless steel bowls that I loved to use. I knew that if I dropped one it would not break, and found great joy in the sound of the metal whisk against the edge of the metal bowl. It is still music to my ears today.

You may be thinking that a set of three bowls is all you will ever need and that more bowls is simply more clutter. I have to say that you are wrong. Can you cook with three bowls? Absolutely!! Will you be happier cooking with five or six bowls? You bet!!! The one thing that I would recommend and advocate is to not be fooled by the lure of a nice set of nine nesting glass bowls. Sure they look great in the store and you will find them to be valuable. However, you will curse the day that one of them is knocked on the floor by someone, either big or little, in your kitchen. Go for the stainless steel. It will not shatter on your floor. It is supper easy to clean. It stacks really well and you can find bowls that are large enough for a full batch of monster cookies!!

The next time that you are thinking about adding something practical and relatively cheap to your culinary arsenal, reach for the bowls. Buy bowls in a wide variety of sizes because you will use them. I know that it is frustrating when you are using a bowl that is too big for the job and even more maddening when you grab a bowl that is slightly too small for the job. Trust me, stainless steel bowls are always a great investment. Happy bowling!!