Baked Zucchini Fries

This month for Secret Recipe Club I was assigned Jamie’s Cooking with Moxie. Secret Recipe Club is a gathering of food bloggers where bloggers are assigned another food blogger’s recipe site, selects and prepares a recipe, and on the designated day, shares the recipe made. It’s a great way to meet other bloggers and find new recipes. I truly appreciated how many savory recipes Jamie has featured on her blog since some months I’ve struggled finding something interesting that is not a sweet. Maybe it’s because she hails from a large, close-knit Italian family. I enjoyed all her family and friend pics on her About Me page. 

I bookmarked a few things:  chickpea cakes with tzatziki, bake pesto chicken because we have a ton of frozen, homemade pesto from this summer’s basil haul, and tilapia in caper sauce, Roman style since we eat fish at least once a week (and Craig would be thrilled it’s NOT salmon). But we needed a veg one night, and the zucchini fries with roasted garlic aioli caught my eye. These are easy and very tasty. The panko adds more crunch than regular breadcrumbs, and the zuc becomes almost creamy when baked. A great texture contrast. Even though I made it with grocery store zucs, this is a great use of overflowing, summer garden zucs. I cut the recipe in half for just the two of us, and we had it as an appetizer. When I went to roast the garlic for the aioli I realized we were out of a whole head (heresy, I know!) so we dipped them in (homemade, canned) marinara. We ended up eating all that I made, which was THREE zucchinis. Kind of addictive to say the least. Next time I may spice up the seasoning mix and make the aioli. 

Enjoy! The recipe below reflects the changes I've made to the original recipe.

Zucchini Fries

1/2 cup whole wheat panko breadcrumbs, seasoned with Italian seasonings

2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 egg, lightly beaten

3 medium zucchinis

Olive oil cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with nonstick foil and drizzle lightly with olive oil cooking spray.

Put panko breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl. Mix in grated Parmesan cheese. In another shallow bowl, add the beaten egg. Season both bowls with salt and pepper. Cut each zucchini into horizontal pieces to make the “fries".

Dip each zucchini piece into the egg mixture first, dripping off any excess, and then into the panko/cheese mixture, coating completely and place on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes, turn. Bake another 15 minutes, until outside is crispy and browned.

We served them with homemade marinara. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Southwestern Chicken and Veggie Rollups

We were invited to a casual, all-appetizer dinner party recently. We decided we needed to take something substantial since it would be the meal after all. In searching through the appetizer file, I came across an old Southern Living recipe I made years ago for a “parent party” when Connor was in middle school. Those were the kinds of events where we’d take a thoughtful, delicious, homemade dish, and everyone else brought cheese and crackers. We learned short of having to drive through Steak ‘n’ Shake on the way home to take a hearty hors d’oeuvre. These rollups were devoured then and when I made them most recently. They pack a lot of veggies (spinach, zucchini, yellow squash, and corn), protein (chicken, black beans, and cheese), and fiber. The cheese melts beautifully and gives them a slight gooey, nacho-like flair.

While these make lovely starters, they also make a nice lunch and can easily become a vegetarian meal by omitting the chicken. We are once again overflowing in squash thanks to our weekly CSA box, and I threw in shredded zucchini and yellow squash. The original recipe uses pre-flavored Southwestern chicken strips, but not in our house (it violates a cardinal rule of our eating – what’s in that seasoing mix, most likely something unpronounceable?? I sautéed chicken I seasoned with Penzey's Arizona Dreamin' mix  and also used the mix in lieu of grocery store-packaged fajita seasoning, which is loaded with chemicals and sodium. Feel free to use your favorite Southwestern spice mix. The recipe advises against overfilling the tortillas and rolling them tightly for easier cutting. Good recommendations. These are party-friendly in that you can make the filling in advance, even the day before, and assemble 30 minutes prior to slicing them.

Southwestern Chicken and Veggie Rollups

Generously serves 8 to 10

1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 small zucchini, shredded

1 small yellow squash, shredded

2 T Southwestern seasoning mix (or 1-ounce envelope fajita seasoning mix

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 pound of chicken, seasoned with 1 T Southwestern seasoning mix, cooked and chopped

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can yellow corn with red and green bell peppers, drained

1 can fire-roasted, diced green chiles (mild or spicy, depending on your taste)

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese  

6 10-inch flour tortillas

Your favorite salsa

Combine spinach, shredded zucchini and yellow squash, and two tablespoons seasoning mix in a large skillet; add broth. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, five minutes. Stir in chicken and next four ingredients; simmer until cheese melts.

Spread one cup chicken mixture on one side of each tortilla, leaving a 1/2-inch border around edges. Don’t overfill the tortillas.

Roll up tortillas tightly, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill 30 minutes.

Unwrap rollups, and cut slices on the diagonal. Serve with your favorite salsa.

Print recipe.

Secret Recipe Club & One of the Best Things I’ve Ever Made

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club, where bloggers are assigned a foodie blog, select and prepare a recipe, and on “reveal” day (today) post about the recipe and share whose blog we were secretly assigned. It’s a great way to meet other bloggers and find new recipes.

This month I was assigned Amy's Cooking Adventures. Amy is a stay at home mom with two little boys. She enjoys baking quite a bit and like me, cooking healthy as much as possible. I really had a hard time deciding what to make from her blog. I debated about preparing the Heart Healthy Vegetable Alfredo with Pan Seared Chicken , which is still on my to-make pile, likely later this week, but from the day the assignment came to my in-box, I knew what I was making.

Homemade soft pretzels have been on my culinary bucket list for as long as I can remember. I love the combination of salty and starch, and pretzels warm out of the oven are pretty much perfect food. Fluffy in the inside, beautifully browned, and freshly puffed. But why hadn’t I made them if I liked eating them so much? Simple. I thought homemade pretzels either had to be prepared with (food safe!) lye, whatever that ominously is in food, and they had to be boiled (can you say big mess all over the cook top?). Much to my delight neither is true. Doing a bit of quick research, I now understood how Amy’s Soft Pretzels are made without lye. Lye is an alkali. Baking soda (mixed with water) is an alkali. Viola! Dip the unbaked pretzel in the solution and the “lye” reacts to the surface of the dough, resulting in the pretzel’s deep, glossy brown when baked and gives the pretzel its crisp yet slightly chewy texture.

Be forewarned. This pretzels are not good. They are to die for. Connor had two and a half of them and only stopped there because he was in the middle of preparing dinner for us. I was supposed to share one with Craig but ended up eating almost the whole thing myself. Amy’s original recipe shares a riff for making stuffed pretzels, and the topping possibilities are limited only by your imagination. But I am a pretzel purist and a brush of warmed butter and kosher salt are all I need. Next time I may experiment with making them into pretzel sticks rather then eight rather large pretzels. Portion control. Maybe.

As a note, Amy makes the dough in a mixer. The recipe below reflects the changes I made, notably using the food processor to prepare the dough like I do with pizza dough.

Soft Pretzels

Makes 8 pretzels       

Soda Wash 
½ C warm water

2 T baking soda

Dough 
1 t sugar

2 t yeast

1 C warm water (110-115 degrees F)

½ t salt

2 ½ C all purpose flour

Toppings 
3 T unsalted butter, melted

Kosher salt

In a small saucepan, combine the ½ cup water and 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Turn the heat to medium-high and bring the pot to a simmer. Stir the water until the baking soda is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Place the 1 cup of water, yeast, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Mix until it froths slightly. Add the salt and flour and knead for 5 minutes or so until the dough forms a ball. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour as needed. Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Put the bowl in a warm place and let the dough rise for at least 30 minutes, longer is fine.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F and spray a baking sheet with non stick spray.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 equal parts. Let the dough rest, lightly covered for 3 minutes.

Using your hands, roll each section of the dough into a long, thin rope and shape into a pretzel. Dip each pretzel into the soda wash and place on the prepared baking sheets, reshaping as necessary. Let the pretzels rest for 10 minutes.

Bake the pretzels for 8-10 minutes (6-7 minutes in a convection oven) or until deeply browned. Brush the pretzels generously with melted butter and sprinkle with salt.

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Titanic Dinner – an Updated Hors d'Oeuvre

Last weekend on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, we had a dinner party commemorating the final first class dinner of the fateful cruise. I updated the menu considerably to reflect contemporary tastes and planned (and prepared) six courses, but we realized you cannot eat 21st century portions – and have room for dessert, which is the most important part of the meal. Remember Emma Bombeck’s sage advice, "Seize the moment. Think of all those women on the ‘Titanic’ who waved off the dessert cart." Our menu is below, but we skipped the asparagus salad. And while no one ended up at the bottom of our pool, a very good thing, this was a meal to remember.

On the Solid Ground of the Evans’ Home

Menu Updated 100 Years

Classic Champagne Cocktail (provided by our friend at Kitchen Riffs!)

Shrimp Butter in Cucumber Cups Topped with Poached Shrimp

Vegetable Consommé with Seared Scallop

Lemon Sorbet

Filet of Tenderloin, Creminis, Roquefort; Potatoes Dauphinoise; Stuffed Zucchini

Asparagus Salad with Champagne-Saffron Vinaigrette

Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse à l'Orange **

This was a tremendously fun theme for a dinner party, and I enjoyed studying the original 11-course extravaganza menu, French-based, and typical dining for those in the upper class during the latter years of the Edwardian era. While the menu is readily available online (Google “Titanic first class dinner menu”), details on the preparations are speculative based on the time. Think rich, caloric – both from food and drink – and a dinner that lasts hours. Some of the courses had a few choices, for instance, the first entrée (the fourth course) surprisingly offered a vegetarian option, rice-stuffed vegetable marrows, similar to zucchini.  ** I made delicious tofu chocolate mousse, using Ghirardelli 70% extra bittersweet chocolate and Grand Marnier instead of Kahlua.

Our first course, a hors d'oeuvre, was based on Canapes a l'Amiral. The recipe below is conceptually similar to the original, but the shrimp spread is served on hollowed out cucumber rounds rather than crostini and topped with a poached shrimp rather than caviar. The shrimp butter was divine and can be made in advance and refrigerated. I reduced the ingredients in the recipe below by half because we had a ton leftover. Not that that was a bad thing. Connor enjoyed it the next day as a grilled cheese sandwich. Next time I will poach smaller shrimp for the topping and use a whole shrimp on each cucumber cup for a prettier presentation.

Updated Shrimp Butter in Cucumber Cups Topped with Poached Shrimp

Serves 28

1 T oil
1 large shallots, peeled, ends removed, minced
1 cloves garlic, peeled, ends removed, minced
8 ounces shrimp in shell, rinsed
2 T cup brandy
2 ounces cream cheese, softened (regular or reduced fat)
1 T butter, softened
1/2 T tomato paste
1/4 t salt
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
Dash of vanilla

2 English cucumbers

9 large shrimp, poached and sliced in half lengthwise

Fresh dill, minced, for garnish

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.

Add the shallot and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until softened. Increase heat to high and add the shrimp. Sauté shrimp for 4 minutes or until the shells are pink and the flesh is opaque. Remove the shrimp and cool.

When shrimp are cool enough to handle, peel and discard shells. Transfer shrimp to a food processor fitted with the steel blade or a blender.

Return skillet to the heat and add brandy. Cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds or until the brandy is reduced to a glaze. Scrape the glaze into the shrimp mixture. Pulse shrimp mixture until it is coarsely chopped.

Add the cream cheese, butter, tomato paste, salt, pepper and vanilla. Process until almost smooth and set aside. This can be refrigerated up to a day ahead.

Just before serving, cut cucumbers into 28 3/4-inch-thick rounds. Scoop seeds from centers of cucumber rounds, using a melon baller or small spoon, leaving a 1/4-inch-thick shell. Fill cucumber cups with shrimp spread. Top each with half a poached shrimp. Garnish with minced fresh dill.

You Really CAN Make Delish **Baked** Egg Rolls

One of my guilty indulgences is egg rolls. I readily admit I love them with a capital L-O-V-E. I *could* eat egg rolls every day. Great egg rolls are crispy, crunchy, and slightly chewy, never greasy, and plump with lots of seasoned veggie and meat filling.

Doing some quick research, I realized the egg roll concept, meat and veggies rolled in dough and fried, is prepared and eaten around the globe. Of course, there’s the skinnier cousin, the non-fried spring roll, found in Chinese, Taiwanese, Thai, and Vietnamese cuisines. In Mexico, it’s a chimichanga, burrito, or taquito, familiar to most Americans. In India, it’s kolkata, a fried egg cooked with and rolled into unleavened flat bread, paratha, and served with onions, chilis, and sometimes ketchup. In other English speaking countries, an egg roll refers to an egg, either fried or hard-boiled, in a mayo-spread bread roll. No thanks, not quite so appealing.

Until this weekend, I never imagined a home cook could make a reasonable facsimile, especially without frying. And that kind of frying does not happen in our home. Craig gave me a doubtful look but nonetheless jumped in and undertook the job of folding them. We were both surprised how great they turned out. Really surprised. I meant to eat only one, but since they easily met my criteria for a great egg roll, I ended up eating a second. Oops. Imagine the calories saved since these golden beauties are baked. Other than chopping the veggies, these are extremely easy to put together, and from what I’ve researched, unbaked egg rolls freeze very well. I’m seeing us taking a few hours and making a big batch of these for future indulging. Maybe I really can eat egg rolls every day.

The original recipe is from Being Mrs. Jones - Not Your Average Housewife. The recipe below reflects the changes I made. We ate them Vietnamese style, wrapped in lettuce with cucumber slices, sliced green onions, and shredded carrots, and Nuoc Cham, a spiiiiiiiiiiiiicy dipping sauce. Enjoy.

Baked Shrimp and Veggie Egg Rolls

Makes approximately 8 egg rolls

1 pound finely chopped, cooked shrimp

1 T finely minced garlic

2 t grated fresh ginger

2-3 cups finely chopped green cabbage, Napa Cabbage, or coleslaw mixture

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup diced bell pepper

1/3 cup minced carrot

2 t sesame seeds

1 t freshly ground black pepper

Crushed red pepper flakes to taste

1/4 cup of soy sauce, preferably low sodium

2 T sesame oil

7-inch square egg roll wrappers

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a large skillet, sauté the onion until it turns translucent, but do not allow it to brown. Add the garlic and ginger and cook 30 seconds. Add remaining vegetables and cook until softened. Season with black and red peppers and add sesame seed. Add cooked shrimp and combine.

Once the shrimp is hot, add in soy sauce and cabbage, a handful at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once the cabbage has wilted, remove the skillet from the heat.

To assemble, lay out an egg roll wrapper on the counter. Place about 1/3 to 1/4 cup of the shrimp and veggie mixture onto the wrapper. Fold in the left and right side corners towards the center, and then fold up the bottom corner. Roll from the bottom up, so that the filling is contained. Brush the remaining (top) corner with a little water and roll.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. Spritz with oil and continue baking until slightly browned, another five minutes.

Nuoc Cham
USE WITH CAUTION: Craig said this numbs your tongue and lips. It is hot, but in a good addictive way.  

1/4 C sugar
1/2 C water
1/4 C fish sauce
Juice from 1/2 a lime
1/4 C rice wine vinegar
3-4 cloves garlic, finely minced
Thai chili or jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced, seeds removed to tone down the heat - or not

Combine first five ingredients in a medium bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add garlic and pepper.

This keeps well refrigerated for some time.

Print Recipe

Stuffed Barbequed Jalapeños - Show-Stopper' Appetizer

A friend from Austin, Texas gave us Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Woman Cooks a few months ago and warned us that most of the recipes are not “light”, but they reflect the way a rancher’s wife cooks. I’ve only made one thing, and it certainly justifies the purchase of the cookbook for that recipe alone, which was the barbequed stuffed jalapeños. They are a-may-zing. The slow, low-temp baking results in peppers cooked through without sogginess, luscious, creamy cheese that stays in the peppers, crispy bacon that lends the right saltiness, all caramelized with a brush of barbeque sauce. Be forewarned if you take these to a party, they get eaten very quickly. Very quickly. They’re addictive, and it’s hard to stop at one or two or five or six. You get the point. Snag a few just as you serve them, otherwise you may not get any. If this is how a rancher’s wife cook, sign me up.

They are easily prepared with the most time-consuming task removing the seeds and membrane. I used low-fat cream cheese, more green onions, and homemade beer barbeque sauce that is zippier than sweet, which I canned in the fall. Ree suggests a simplification of using only cream cheese as the stuffing, but the slight tang the extra sharp cheddar adds is a nice contract to the rather bland cream cheese and the green onions add color and texture. I’m thinking they could be prepared in advance up to smearing with barbeque sauce and frozen.

Stuffed Barbequed Jalapeños

Makes 36

18 fresh jalapeños

One 8-ounce package cream cheese, low fat is fine

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

3 green onion, sliced

18 slices thin bacon, cut into half lengthwise and width-wise

Barbecue sauce

Toothpicks

Rubber gloves (or plastic bags) for working with the jalapeños

Preheat the oven to 275°

Cut the jalapeños in half lengthwise, keeping the stem in tact for a nicer presentation. Remove the seeds and membranes with a spoon. For more heat, you can leave some seeds.
In a bowl combine the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and chopped green onions. Mix gently. Stuff each half with the cream cheese mixture.

Wrap the bacon slices around each half, be careful not to stretch the bacon and wrap too tightly (it contracts when it cooks). Secure the jalapeños with toothpicks.

Brush the surface of the bacon with your favorite barbeque sauce. Place on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake for until the bacon is sizzling, about one hour and 15 minutes. I broiled them for a few minutes to get the bacon really crispy.

(The original recipe indicates chutney or apricot jelly works well and suggests baking on a rack, which I did not do).

Asian-Inspired Appetizers: Baked Turkey-Vegetable Wontons and Asian Chex Mix

A few neighbors got together for happy hour on Sunday evening, and we volunteered to bring an appetizer. Craig suggested one of our favorite standbys, baked wontons. We’ve been making these for so long I have no idea where the recipe originated. They are versatile and delicious with whatever veggies you have in the frig, chicken, turkey, tofu if that’s to your liking, or meatless. Being baked and not fried, they are crispy but relatively healthy and easy thanks to the food processor. The secret ingredient is the cilantro-peanut sauce, loosely based on a Cooking Light recipe, sweet, salty, a little crunchy, and a touch spicy. These are always a hit at parties, as was the case on Sunday (all 24 wontons were eaten between the six of us), and the filling can be made earlier in the day, refrigerated, and the wontons baked just before serving.

Since it was happy hour, some sort of crunchy munch food was in order to make the adult grape juice appealing and keep it flowing (not that much encouragement is needed). In the spirit of the loose Asian theme of the wontons, I decided to make Cooking Light’s Asian Chex Mix (slightly modified). This Oriental riff on the classic party mix is crazy-addictive. This method slowly bakes at a low temperature to result in a crisp mix, but don’t open the oven door to ensure an even temperature.

Baked Wontons with Cilantro-Peanut Sauce

Makes 40 wontons

2 stalks celery

2 small carrots

2 cloves garlic

1 medium onion

Half a can - 8-ounce can water chestnuts

1 lb ground chicken or turkey breast

2 cups coleslaw mix

2 t grated fresh ginger

1 T low-sodium soy sauce

1/2 C cilantro peanut sauce (recipe below)

1/2 C chopped cilantro

1 package wonton wrappers

In a food processor, finely chop the celery, carrot, garlic, onion, and water chestnuts. The pieces should be small and fairly uniform, but not liquid.

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the meat until it is no longer pink. Add the vegetables, coleslaw, and ginger. Increase the heat to medium and cook until the vegetables are soft and any moisture has evaporated. Add the soy and peanut sauces and cook for five minutes. Add the cilantro. This may be made ahead and refrigerated at this point.

Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Press one wonton wrapper into each cup of a mini-muffin pan with the edges flared out to the sides (you will need two pans). Place one scoop of the meat mixture into each cup.

Bake for 15 minutes until the wrappers are crisp and golden. Allow to cool slightly in the pan before removing to a serving tray.

Serve with additional peanut sauce.

Cilantro-Peanut Sauce

Yield - 1 1/3 cups

1/2 C balsamic vinegar

3 T sugar

3 T brown sugar

1/4 C low-sodium soy sauce

1 t crushed red pepper

2 clove garlic, minced

1/4 C chunky peanut butter

1 C chopped cilantro

Combine first seven ingredients in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter, stirring frequently with a whisk. Cool. Stir in cilantro.

Asian Party Mix

Makes 8 1/2-cup servings
2 C crispy corn cereal squares
2 C crispy wheat cereal squares
3 C sesame sticks broken (such as Pepperidge Farms) – you can use less, but these are so yummy that people search them out in the mix
1 C tiny fat-free pretzel twists
1 C wasabi peas
1/4 C lightly salted peanuts
4 T unsalted butter
1 T sugar
1 T curry powder – I use Penzey’s hot curry powder
1 T low-sodium soy sauce
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t ground cumin
1/4 t salt
1/4 t ground red pepper
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 200°.

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; set aside. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar and remaining ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Pour butter mixture over cereal mixture, tossing gently to coat. Spread the mixture onto a jelly roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 200° for 45 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Strawberry Balsamic Salsa with Grilled Sea Bass

Last night Connor and I cooked together for Mother’s Day, which was a glorious mother’s day present in and of itself. We planned a very simple meal of grilled sea bass, creamy polenta, and grilled asparagus. It really resonated with me that simple is something I don’t do often enough, where the fresh and fabulous flavors of the ingredients shine. Easy clean up, too. 

The gorgeous, sustainable sea bass was from Whole Foods, and we had strawberries that needed to be used. I have fallen in love with macerated strawberries and balsamic vinegar this spring, so we made a balsamic strawberry salsa to serve with the fish. Strawberries and balsamic together are sophisticated and an Italian classic. It may sound strange, but they pair beautifully. The balsamic brings out the sweetness of the berries yet adds a tart bite. Be sure to use your very best aged balsamic. One that I love is from the Mountain Town Olive Oil Company in Park City, Utah, a traditional 18 year Modena balsamic. The other salsa ingredients add a touch of heat and crunch. WOWOWOWOW. After preparing and tasting it, we immediately made another batch because we knew it would not be enough. The salsa and soft goat cheese would also make an easy bruschetta.

A perfect meal for a lovely spring day.

Strawberry Balsamic Salsa with Grilled Sea Bass

1 small lime, zested
1/4 C finely chopped seeded jalapeno
2 T finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 T fresh lime juice

1 T aged balsamic vinegar
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t cumin

1/2 t kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 C finely chopped strawberries

In a small bowl, whisk together the lime zest, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, and spices. Add the strawberries and combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the sea bass, we combined 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, and thinly sliced two cloves of garlic in a pie pan and added the fish to coat and marinated in the refrigerator for about an hour. Just before grilling it, we sprinkled with salt and pepper and Connor grilled it to perfection, and 3 minutes per side.

Pizza Bake-Off Party!

Saturday night a group of our great friends – old and new – enjoyed an evening of tasty pizzas, entertaining magic, and lively conversation. After reading my blog post a few months ago about homemade pizza dough, our friend Justin suggested we a pizza bake-off, similar to a chili cook-off. What a brilliant idea for an unbelievably fun party.

We ended up with six couples, and I prepared the dough for (almost) all the pizza. Everyone was asked to bring their most inspired, tasty toppings and prepped their pizzas at our home. The creativity flowed!

We had Roasted Fall Vegetable and Ricotta Pizza (potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, onions, and garlic); Caramelized Onion and Wild Mushroom Pizza with Prosciutto, Fontina, and Rosemary (my favorite, Craig's too and he doesn't like mushrooms); Zucchini and Ricotta Pizza (a recipe our friends Amy and Matt picked up while living in Germany); Barbecued Chicken Pizza; Big Mac Cheeseburger Pizza; and Dea's secret family recipe for Pepperoni Pizza (Chef Boyardee Pepperoni Pizza Maker!).

Magician John Kinney kicked off the evening mystifying us with his incredible magic and card tricks. What a great ice breaker for a party, but he's headed to the Big Apple after graduating from Webster University this spring. Major sad face for us STL folks.

Erin brought a gorgeous cheese platter and tasty pecans and Craig made pepperoncinis stuffed with bacon, red peppers, and boursin that we had as our appetizers, and I made an Italian salad (recipes for the latter two below).  

The finale of the evening were the desserts Justin prepared: decadent Chocolate Bouchons, a Thomas Keller recipe with three sticks of butter (!!!) as well as Lemongrass Bars with Coconut Shortbread Crust.

Check out all the recipes here. If you are interested in hosting an interactive dinner party, have a pizza bake-off. It’s a blast!

 

Stuffed Pepperoncini

These are delicious on their own and nice on an antipasto platter with salami, pepperoni, black olives, and provolone. The cheese mixture is also terrific on top of cucumber rounds.

6 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup minced shallots
1 red bell pepper, minced
8 ounces garlic flavored soft cheese such as Boursin
1 tablespoon milk
32 ounces pepperoncini

Cut the tops off the peppers, remove any seeds, and lay on a few layers of paper towels to dry.

In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until bacon is browned. Move bacon to paper towels. Discard all but 1-2 T of the bacon drippings. Add the shallots and red pepper to the skillet and cook over medium heat until vegetables are tender. Cook about 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and let cool for 20 minutes.

Finely chop the bacon and cooked vegetables in a food processor. Add cheese and milk and process until smooth.

Spoon cheese mixture into a heavy weight plastic bag. Cut a small hole in one corner of the bag. Pipe the cheese mixture into peppers. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, up to one day.

A Nice Italian Girl’s Salad

Salad:

10 oz chopped romaine lettuce, or a mix of lettuces (arugula, endive)

1/2 c "good" olives

1 roasted red pepper (from a jar is fine)

24 chunks of pepperoni. cut to bite-size

12 grape tomatoes, halved or quartered if yours are large

chunks of provolone or mozzarella, cut to bite-size

Dressing:

3 T red wine vinegar

2 T green salad olives with red pimento and juice

6 leaves fresh basil, torn up

2-3 T Italian parsley

1 t paprika

1/2 t dry mustard

3 big spoonfuls fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

A few grinds black pepper and kosher salt to taste

1/3 – 1/2 C extra virgin olive oil

Put lettuces in a big salad bowl. Break up olives with your fingers. Scatter olives and the sliced red peppers around the salad. Add in the grape tomatoes, pepperoni chunks, and cheese chunks.

In a blender, combine the vinegar, olives, herbs, cheese, pepper and oil. Blend until mixed well. Pour over the salad and toss.

Optional ingredients include quartered artichoke hearts, steamed asparagus, and sliced, pickled pepperoncini peppers.