All I want is you!

Oh Homegrown Gourmet, I came so close to missing the deadline this month. Which would have been a travesty because you are one of my all time favorite blogging events. It would have been especially tragic because this month the theme is pizza - PIZZA!

A brief history of Pizza:

• Pizza originated in Naples in the 18th century. It consisted of tomatoes on flat bread.
• Pizza was perfected in the 20th century in New York, New York. It consisted of huge thin slices loaded with cheese, light on the sauce and meant to be eaten folded in half.
• Never one to let a good thing alone, those weirdo hippies in California decided to change pizza up a bit. They made the pies personal sized and topped them with as many gourmet and unusual toppings as they could find. Thanks to Alice Waters, Wolfgang Puck, and Ed Ladou toppings such as barbeque chicken, goat cheese and veggies, and chicken with artichoke have become common pizza choices. In California you can find a gourmet pizza shop on almost every corner: California Pizza Kitchen, Wolfgang Puck's, Sammy's Woodfired Pizza, Z Pizza, Pizza A-Go-Go.........

So it was very easy for me to join in this homegrown gourmet because all I had to do was make a small pizza topped with my favorite things! We went sauceless, because really in my opinion sauce isn't really a pizza necessity. Especially when the pizza is loaded with cheese. Four cheeses to be exact. And not your boring old Romano/Parm/Mozzarella mix - instead I used Fontinella, Parm, Mozzarella, and gorgonzola. I love gorgonzola on my pizza. Gorgonzola and pear - yum! (wow I have definitely been in California too long). I have my favorite cheese store to pick up fresh cheese and I highly recommend you find yourself a favorite. And make friends with the owner, you won't regret it. Thatboy loves garlic on his pizza so I cut up a couple cloves and threw those on too. And we both go ga ga for artichoke on our pizza. For a final "neiner neiner" (technical cooking term) I pulled out the baby bella mushrooms, sliced them and added them too. Totally gourmet, totally California, dude.

Four Cheese Pizza with Portobello Mushrooms and Artichokes

• 2/3 cup fontinella cheese, grated
  
• 2/3 cup fresh mozzarella, grated
• 1/4 cup parmesean cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 recipe pizza dough
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 can quartered artichoke hearts
• 2 baby bella mushrooms, sliced
• fresh rosemary
• olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 500. Spray pizza pan with cooking spray. Combine cheeses in a bowl.
   
2. Divide dough in half and roll each half into an 8 inch disc. Place on pizza pan.
   
3. Top with cheese mixture, garlic, artichokes, and mushrooms, leaving 1 inch border. Bake 13 minutes, or until crust is golden.
4. Sprinkle fresh rosemary on top and brush edges with olive oil.

Serves 2.
Each serving has:

Calories		481.9
Total Fat		28.0 g
Cholesterol		83.0 mg
Sodium		1,273.1 mg
Potassium		72.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate		29.8 g
Protein		29.0 g

Anything goes

Last year around this time we were returning from Mexico and searching for puppies. I had spent hours combing the markets and shops searching for the perfect margarita glasses. We do a lot of margaritas in Thathouse and I've always wanted some of those beautiful hand crafted glasses to serve them in.

But the glasses have served so many other purposes. They're great for fruit salad and ice cream sundaes! To reminisce on our Mexican adventures I made us some shrimp cocktails and serve them in our margarita glasses. They're so fun and colorful and festive that way!

I also spiced up the shrimp quite a bit - they burn on the way down, but in a good way. The salsa gives a little sweetness and cools it down a smidge, but just a smidge. Because everything's better with a little spice.

Spicy Shrimp Cocktail

• 1 Tbsp chipotle chile powder
• 1/2 cup chopped red pepper
• 1 Tbsp red onion, chopped
• 1/2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
• 1 lime
• 1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

1. Combine 1/2 Tbsp chile powder, red pepper, onion, cilantro, and juice of 1/2 lime. Refrigerate till ready to serve.
2. In a ziplock, combine shrimp, 1/2 Tbsp chile powder and juice of remaining half lime. Marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes.
3. Grill shrimp until pink and serve with salsa.

Serves 2.

Each serving has:

Calories		171
Total Fat		1 g
Total Carbohydrate		15.0 g
Protein		24 g

Do do that voodoo

It's amazing what a rub can do. It's magic how it turns a basic boring chicken into something all together completely. Even when the rub is made of simple dried herbs, it's a quick and easy way to flavor your dinner. I like to use the same herbs to season my veggies I serve with the chicken - kinda like doubling my flavor, and doubling my fun.

I first used this rub for a pork roast, but I love it on chicken too. It's the thyme that does it. Thyme on chicken, thyme on potatoes, and with a nice light salad, this one really is a quick dinner...well as quick as it takes to bake your chicken, but that baking time is a great time to cook the potatoes. I'm all about multi-tasking.

Tuscan Rub
3 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp ground thyme

Combine all ingredients and pat on chicken.
Sprinkle over potatoes before cooking.

Let me warn you right from the start

I don't think is the healthiest breakfast. However, if you're planning on this being your meal of the day, it's probably a good choice. And if you're looking for another French inspired breakfast, you couldn't ask for better. I knew I wanted to make buckwheat crepes because of the fantastic ones we had on Monday. So I went searching and found this recipe from Williams Sonoma. I've never made a Williams Sonoma recipe, but I wanted to try this one since it had gruyere, like my inspiration crepe.

I made the batter the night before to make life easy so in the morning I was just tossing them in a pan and then baking. It's a similar technique to the French pancakes, so I was already almost a pro. It was creamy, it was salty, and I love the buckwheat crepe. It's like my very own cafe at home.

Buckwheat Crepes with Ham and Gruyere Cheese (from Williams Sonoma)

For the crepes:

1 egg

1 cup milk

5 Tbs. all-purpose flour

1/4 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. canola oil

8 tsp. unsalted butter

For the filling:

2 Tbs. unsalted butter

2 Tbs. all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

8 thin slices ham

1/2 lb. Gruyère cheese, grated

Directions:

To make the crepes, in a blender, combine the egg, milk, all-purpose and buckwheat flours, salt and canola oil and process until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or as long as overnight.

In a crepe pan over medium heat, melt 1 tsp. of the butter to coat the pan evenly. Lift the pan at a slight angle and pour 1/4 cup of the batter into the center, tilting the pan to spread the batter to the edges. Return the pan to the heat and cook until the crepe is golden underneath, 1 to 2 minutes. Using a spatula, flip the crepe over and cook until golden on the other side, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a plate and cover. Repeat to make 8 crepes.

To make the filling, in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter, add the flour and whisk until smooth. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk and cook until thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper and keep warm.

Preheat an oven to 350ºF.

To assemble, lay a crepe flat, place a slice of ham and some of the cheese in the center and fold into a rectangular pouch. Place on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining crepes and filling. Bake until the cheese melts, 5 to 7 minutes. Divide the crepes among 4 individual plates, top with sauce and serve immediately.

Serves 4.
Each serving has:

Calories		608.8
Total Fat		40.3 g
Cholesterol		186.5 mg
Sodium		1,309.6 mg
Potassium		520.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate		26.1 g
Protein		35.6 g

You're sensational

Actually, Thatboy gave me quite the different compliment last night as we headed to a concert. After I made a certain comment about my planned activites for the night, he looked at me and exclaimed "My wife's a G!" For those of you who aren't in the know...G is short for gangsta...which is short for gangster. I'm pretty sure he meant I was sensational though, right? Of course, it could have been the obscene amounts of energy drinks we've been consuming this week talking. We've basically been surviving off of breakfast, energy drinks, and a constant high of summer music and good friends. Who needs sleep?

Although, I have definitely been making more substantial breakfasts this week so we don't "wake up in the hospital" (thanks Thatmom - I promise we'll start taking care of ourselves soon....) We continue with our week of French inspired with French pancakes! I actually woke up slightly before dawn to make these because Thatboy had to go to a neighboring county for work so he had to leave slightly after dawn. The recipe comes from one of Thatmom's friends who gave it to me shortly before our wedding. I'm guessing she must have heard about the ultimate pancake quest. The recipe actually calls for filling the pancakes with fruit, jam, and/or nuts, but I thought the recipe would make the kind of pancakes Thatboy likes so I kept it simple. Unfortunately because of his schedule I didn't get a chance to take a picture of Thatboy's pancakes, drowning in syrup, so you'll have to make do with my syrupless version. These were as thin and gooey as Thatboy liked them, but he found them a little stiff. I think I could play around with them a little to get them closer to his favorites fairly easily.


And for anyone who's wondering - I went back to sleep RIGHT after he left.

French Pancakes

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup AP flour
  

1. Put eggs in a bowl, beat only until well blended.
2. Add other ingredients, stir until smooth.
3. Cover and let stand at room temperature at least 1/2 hour. Batter should be thin, just thick enough to cover a spoon dipped in it. If batter is too thick, stir in a little more milk.
4. Cook in a 5 or 6" frying pan greated lightly with salad oil. Pour enough batter to thinly coat pan - tilt pan to distribute evenly.
5. Cook on both sides.

Makes 18-24 pancakes.
Each pancake has:

Calories		32.8
Total Fat		0.6 g
Total Carbohydrate		5.2 g
Protein		1.6 g

Off we Go!

Lack of sleep due to Olympics, weddings, dinners, and theater can really take its toll on you. So where ever I can I try to sneak in some juice for Thatboy and I to keep our vitamins up. I'm loving this Bossa Nova stuff lately, so I usually keep some of it on hand in the fridge. Thatboy and I tend to split bottles and water them down. I've been doing that with juice for years and have been really working on Thatboy to do the same since he drinks so much juice, which is just loaded with sugar.

To go with our dinner tonight (more on that later) I decided to use the juice in a vinaigrette. When I use juice in a dressing, I like to make the salad a little spicy, so in this I used the dressing to top a salad of arugula and red onion. Lots of bite in there! And you can't see it, but the arugula is on a bed of oranges - even more vitamin C! We need all the energy we can get this month!

Acai Vinaigrette
1 Tbsp Bossa Nova Juice
1/6 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Whisk together all ingredients.

And since this recipe uses the "tool of the month," the whisk, I'm submitting it to Joelen's Tasty Tools event!

The real McCoy

Did you miss me? It feels like I've been gone forever! I had the best of intentions to set up scheduled posts for this weekend while we were out of town, but time, as usual, got the best of me. We headed out for The Actress's wedding and didn't have internet access all weekend. And then we got home Monday night and headed right over to Tat's house for dinner. And of course I swung right back into work again today. Things show no signs of slowing down as our adventures this week begin Thursday afternoon - but I should have some true catch up time on Sunday. Until then, I'll overload you with all the good stuff you've been missing.

Speaking of good stuff, this is a recipe given to me by my friend, the Engineer. I had tucked it away in a dark corner because I'm not a huge fan of lemon desserts. But Thatboy is. And this month is crazy for us, so I thought I'd try to do something nice for him.

TG: I'm making you lemon bars!
TB: Why?
TG: Woah, don't go tripping over yourself thanking me. Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself.
TB: I don't love lemon bars or anything.
TG: I thought you loved lemon desserts (he loves lemon desserts)
TB: Naw, I like my mom's lemon meringue pie.
TG: And lemon cookies, and lemon bars...
TB: Eh
TG: Well don't do me any favors. I'll just leave these on the counter, I'm sure we can find some silverfish who'd be interested.

But it wasn't long before his sweet tooth got the better of him
TB: These are great!
TG: I thought you didn't like lemon desserts.
TB: These taste JUST like little lemon meringue pies! They even have that meringue-y top. What is that?
TG: It's just the filling, it kinda gets crusty when you cook it I guess. Frankly, I thought I had messed up the recipe because it was all crackly.
TB: NO! That's my favorite part!

While lemon bar may not be my favorite, they are definitely a summer staple. These are perfect because the crusty top protects them from the elements, making them perfect for bringing on picnics. And so I'm entering them in Joelen's "Wine and Dine" blogging event!

The Engineer's Favorite Lemon Squares

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp grated lemon peel
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350. Mix flour, butter and powdered sugar. Press into ungreased square pan, building up 1/2 inch edges. Bake 20 minutes.
2. Beat remaining ingredients until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, pour over hot crust.
3. Bake until no indentation remains when touched lightly in the center, about 25 minutes.
4. Cool, cut into about 1 1/2 inch squares.

Serves 9.

Each serving has:

Calories		258.1
Total Fat		11.5 g
	Saturated Fat	6.7 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.6 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	3.4 g
Cholesterol		74.8 mg
Sodium		172.1 mg
Potassium		39.4 mg
Total Carbohydrate		36.9 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.4 g
	Sugars	25.6 g
Protein		3.0 g

Egging me on

I've been terrible at keeping up with blog events lately, but yesterday I was inspired. Yesterday Thatboy and I woke up at 10 AM, a luxury we are rarely afforded. We drove through the beach city we were staying in and found a little French cafe. And I don't mean the "we serve crepes" kind of French cafe, I mean the kind that's owned by a French family, where I am equally as comfortable ordering in French or English, where the crepes are made from buckwheat batter. We sipped our coffee and sat enjoying what was left of the morning over fresh squeezed orange juice and savory crepes.

Thatboy's crepe was filled with brie and bacon, while mine was loaded with fresh tomatoes and gruyere. The flavors were so intense I knew I wanted to play around a little with them at home. And lucky for me this week Joelen's hosting a food event featuring French food! My first recipe starts out with a classic French dish. Quiche. How do you make quiche more French? Make sure you use as much heavy cream as you can possibly find. Still not French enough? This is where the crepe inspiration came in - I added Brie. One bite and you'll be affecting that Pepe La Peu accent and drawing handle bar mustaches on your face with eye liner (oh come on, I can't be the only kid who did that....)

We served this as a light dinner. Which was perfect since I happened to bring home some new cupcakes to try tonight, which Thatboy has decided are his new favorite - which is a HUGE deal since he's been a die hard Sprinkles fan since Day 1. A light dinner saving room for dessert? What can be more French than that?

Brie and Ham Quiche

• pie dough
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 3 slices ham
• 1 wedge of brie, diced
• 1 cup grated parmesean
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 400. Roll out dough and place in pie pan. Cover with foil and bake 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake 5 minutes more. Set aside.
2. Lower heat to 325. Julienne ham.
3. In a skillet, melt butter and saute ham until brown.
4. Spread ham on bottom of pie crust, sprinkle brie and parmesean on top of ham.
5. Combine eggs, cream, and nutmeg and pour over ham and cheese.
6. Bake 30 minutes or until set.
7. Cool slightly, cut into wedges and serve.

Serves 8.
Each Serving has:

Calories		520.1
Total Fat		45.1 g
Cholesterol		240.4 mg
Sodium		729.8 mg
Potassium		189.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate		10.5 g
Protein		18.5 g