Monday, March 8, 2010

Tonights Dinner

I made burgers with ground pork and various spices but the adventure of the night was making my own buns from an Italian loaf recipe I have.





Sunday, March 7, 2010

Italian Egg Rolls

These egg rolls are great as an appetizer or finger foods for a party. This was also my first ever shot at making a recipe. I can't remember the exact reason for creating this but the first time I tried it out on people was for an Italian birthday party I catered in the spring of 2006.

Ingredients

- Egg Roll Wraps
- Italian Sausage removed from casing
- Red Pepper julienned
- Red Onion julienned
- Fresh Basil
- 1 tsp. Dried Oregano
- Mozzarella cut into 1/4" thick strips

Directions

1. In an oiled frying pan over medium heat, cook onions adding a pinch of salt until translucent.

2. Add red pepper and oregano and cook until peppers are tender, onion near caramelizing. Remove to a bowl.

3. In same pan cook sausage, break up into pieces as small as possible. Remove from heat when cooked through, about 10 minutes.

4. Assemble egg roll according to directions on package. Place small amount of sausage, onions, bell pepper, 1 strip of Mozzarella and basil leaf onto egg roll wrap, be carefull not to overfill. Use flour diluted in water as a 'glue'.

5. Deep fry at 350 until golden brown, about 1:30 to 2 minutes. Remove and dry on paper towels and season lightly with salt or Italian seasoning.

Serve with your favourite marinara sauce.

Sweet Potato Mac 'N Cheese

I thought this one up because I was tired of having plain baked sweet potato. The blue cheese and sweet potatos are a perfect together and really tie everything together. Even those that are not big fans of blue cheese could find this enjoyable as the sharp flavour gets cut by the ricotta and sweet potato.

Serves 8
Ingredients:
1 Pound Sweet Potatos
450 g Ricotta Cheese
150 g Blue Cheese broken into small chunks
500 g Penne or other favourite tube pasta
1 Cup Milk
Pinch All Spice (you could also use nutmeg or cinnamon, or all 3)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Topping Italian Seasoned and Parmesan Breadcrumbs (Store bought, nothing fancy)


Directions:
In a 400°F oven roast the sweet potatos until tender, approximately 40-60 minutes depending on the size.

With about 15 minutes left on the sweet potatos cook pasta in well salted water until you reach desired tenderness. Don't worry if the pasta finishes cooking before the sweet potatos. Just drain and rinse with water to prevent it from sticking.

Once the sweet potatos are finished, leave the oven on, peel the skins off and mash in a mixing bowl with the ricotta. If the ricotta is very smooth add all of the milk, if it's a bit watery you may not need all of the milk. You're looking for a consistency slightly creamier than a traditional whipped mashed potato. Add salt, pepper and all spice to taste. Once everything is combined stir in the pasta and make sure everything is well coated. Then stir in the chunks of blue cheese. You want to have to little chunks of blue cheese scattered throughout once finshed.

Transfer to a casserole dish, I use a lasagna tray, and spread evenly. Top with bread crumbs and drizzle with olive oil.

Put back in the oven for 10 minutes at 400°F and then switch to broil until the top is crispy.

Enjoy!

Venison Meatballs

Serves 4

500g Ground Venison
2 Slice Stale Bread
1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1 Clove Garlic
1 tbs Fresh Thyme
1 Egg, beaten
Salt and Pepper
1 tbs Oil

In a food processor add bread, parmesan, garlic, thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Pulse until you have a nice bread crumb.

Add bread crumb mixture and egg to venison and mix thouroughly. Form into balls roughly the size of a golf ball.

Add oil to frying pan over medium heat. Cook meatballs about 6 minutes per side until golden brown all over.

Serve with your favourite pasta marinara sauce over pasta.

Cheddar and Bacon Muffins

These muffins take center stage on Christmas morning in my family. Relatives have been known to travel through bad weather and traffic jams just to get their hands on them.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ vegetable oil
¼ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese, be generous
½ cup cooked chopped bacon

Preheat oven to 350° F

Grease and flour 12 large muffin cups

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

In a separate bowl beat oil and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and beat well.

Gradually add flour mixture and milk to oil mixture alternating between each.

Quickly fold in cheddar and bacon.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin pan and bake 30-35 minutes.

Remove to a rack to cool.

Yields: 12 muffins

Time to make: 1 hr