Greek Cheese Fries

Upgrade frozen fries to Greek gourmet! Brian grilled salmon burgers the other day and requested these as a side. Awesomeness!

Greek Fries

4 handfuls frozen fries (I used Ore-Ida Steak Fries)
about 1/2 teaspoon (about 5 dashes) dried oregano
garlic granules, salt, and pepper to taste
2-3 TBSPs Feta Cheese

Bake fries on a cookie sheet according to package directions.

When done, pull from oven, sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic granules, and oregeno.

Transfer to plate or bowl. Sprinkle with Feta cheese.

The Best Cucumber Sandwich

Sometimes I feel like I'm getting away from my original point of this blog: to make Brian's stomach happy. I haven't even had one of the cute cartoons from the book lately. This is getting off track a bit, since this one is totally for myself. Brian may eat a cucumber sandwich, but something tells me he just wouldn't find it manly enough.

I know it may be presumptuous to say that my little cucumber sandwich is the best (I'm most likely not the first to make it this way either). However, even in the famous Brown's Hotel in London where I had tea, they basically just had the traditional white (it may have been a pale wheat) bread, butter, and cucumber. They may (although I can't completely remember) have added a sprig of dill. I've had tea at some nice places here, and they may have used cream cheese or mayo, but still sticky white bread and plain cucumber slices.

As simple as mine still is, the flavors are punchy enough to make a proper British lady in a hat blush, and the mix of the acidic cucumbers with the smooth cream cheese is just heaven (if you like cucumber sandwiches).

The Best Cucumber Sandwich Ever
for one sandwich
2 slices pumpernickel bread (also good on a seedy whole grain)
1 TBSP cream cheese
1/4 cup cucumber salad, left to marinate overnight, slightly drained

Spread cream cheese evenly on both slices of bread. Spread out cucumber salad so all the slices lay evenly across the bread. Place together and cut into finger-sized sandwiches (in half for smaller pieces of bread, quartered for larger pieces).

I like my bread to be soft, since the cucumbers are crunchy. Toasting the bread makes a little too crunch all around, and I do still like it to be slightly traditional. It is the perfect sandwich for a hot day!

Cucumber Salad

My mother grows cucumbers. Well, actually, she tossed out a pack cucumber seeds to see what would happen and now she cucumbers coming out of her ears. They are the best kind - the pickling kind. The flesh is crunchier and there are less seeds than the dark green, over-waxed variety at the grocery store. My favorite thing to make is cucumber salad with these kind of cucumbers.




Cucumber Salad

cucumbers, divided in half and thinly sliced into crescents (I used 1)
thinly sliced onion (i used one slice of onion that I sliced up even further)
dried dill (I used a couple dashes)
salt and pepper to taste
rice vinegar (I used about a TBSP splash)
olive oil (I used about 1/2 TBSP splash)

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl. Refrigerate for at least one hour. Will last a couple days in the fridge.

More Pizzas

Here's a couple of pizzas I have made before:

This pizza is a shrimp, green olive, grilled onion, and feta. I usually saute the shrimp a little bit first (Brian's idea) just to make sure it cooks fully on the pizza.

This pizza had pesto sauce instead of a tomato sauce. It was topped with kalamata olives, grilled onion, green bell pepper, sliced tomatoes, and feta cheese.

With both of these pizzas I still used a mozzerella to get the toppings to stick. Feta is more like a garnish. I always top with parmigiano-reggiano.

Grilled Pizza

I've been curious to try grilled pizza for a long time now. Last night Brian and I gave it a shot. I was nervous about it, but once I saw how easy it was, I realized this would be a great idea for entertaining.

Grilled Pizza

Pizza dough, rolled out about 1/4 inch thick
Pizza Sauce
Olive Oil for brushing
Toppings: We used fresh Mozzerella, tomato slices, and fresh basil for a Margherita.

Heat grill as you normally would (We used our cute, little charcoal grill. Brian heated the coals up and told me when they were ready).

Have everything lined up and ready to go.

Brush both sides of pizza dough with olive oil (you can brush one side and then when it's on the grill brush the other side).

Place dough on grill. Cover lid and allow to cook until bottom is slightly browning and it starts to bubble up.

Flip, and spread sauce and top. Close cover and allow to cook until cheese melts and bottom is browned (it took about 5 minutes or so).

Once we took it off the grill we topped with fresh basil.

Pizza Sauce

There are a few things in life I wish I could make perfect: biscuits, yeast rolls, and tomato sauce. Granted, I've never actually tried to make biscuits or yeast rolls from scratch (honestly, I'm happy with Bisquick, and Norma's Cafe right behind me makes great yeast rolls if I ever get a hankering). I'm never quite satisfied with my tomato sauce. Pizza sauce is a little different, and I'm getting happier with the results of that when I make it, but it is still a work in progress. I have tried it the traditional way with tomato paste but that tends to look too gelatinous. That really freaks me out. I had found that just using canned tomatoes is too runny and makes the dough soggy. My solution was to add sun-dried tomatoes to soak up the extra liquid and give the sauce a deeper tomato flavor.

Pizza Sauce

4 cloves garlic
about 1/2 cup onion, chopped
a couple dashes of red chili flakes (to taste - depending on how spicy you want it)
2/3 cup (or a handful) sundried tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes, drained of most of the liquid
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme or any other dried herbs
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
2 TBSP olive oil, plus more for pan
salt and pepper to taste

In a pan, heat a little bit of olive oil. Add garlic, onion, and chili flakes. Saute until soft. Transfer to a food processor and add sundried tomatoes. Process until chopped. Add can tomatoes, herbs, vinegar, salt and pepper. Process until mixed. Slowly drizzle in olive oil. Process until fully mixed.

Sauce can easily be frozen and re-used.

Sometimes I cook everything together before I transfer it to the food processor, and sometimes I leave out the onion and don't pre-cook any of it. I'm still deciding how to best work it out, but the above recipe came out the best once when I tried it.

Pizza Dough

Three months in the making, here is my pizza dough recipe. I used to make Tyler Florence's recipe, but then I started making more following the recipe in A New Way to Cook by Sally Schneider (which, by the way I this it is one of the better all-inclusive cookbooks I've run across). I use the amount of sugar from Tyler's recipe, but his was too salty for me, and I liked that the one from Sally Schneider because it has less salt.

Pizza Dough

1 cup warm water (I used filtered and microwave it until I get to about 105 degrees)
1 tsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (or one of those little packets)
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp sea salt
about 2 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil

Combine water, sugar, and yeast. (I don't know if it matters, but I always add sugar first, stir it in, and then add the yeast, and I give that a stir). Let sit until foamy (about 4-5 minutes).

While that is getting all foamed up, add flour and salt into the bowl of Kitchenaid Mixer (If you don't have a Kitchenaid mixer, you can do it by hand or with a food processor, however, I've never tried either way). With the dough hook, mix together everything on medium speed until a dough ball forms. I usually let in knead for about 5 minutes or so. If the dough is sticky, add more flour. If it is crumbly, add more water. Only about a TBSP at a time though. The dough should be elastic.


Turn onto lightly-floured surface, and knead a few more times. It should form into a nice ball of dough, that springs back when you touch it, and has a slightly vevelty texture.



Put dough in an oiled bowl, and roll it around to coat the entire ball. This will keep it from sticking to the sides of the bowl as it rises.

Cover with a damp tea towel, and let rise in a warm spot for about 60 to 90 minutes. I set my oven on Warm (170 degrees) as I am prepping the dough. Then I put the dough in the oven, and turn the oven off. If it cools off, I'll turn it back on warm for a few minutes.

Once it rises, I plop the blob back onto the floured surface and knead it a few more times. I divide the dough in half. I form each half into a ball, and wrap one up tightly in plastic wrap and put in a freezer bag and into the freezer it goes.

At this point it ready to roll out and top and bake. It is best baked at 500 degrees. I have used one of those pizza stones, but I have a hard time transporting a completely topped pizza to the stone. I'm not even sure a pizza paddle would help me. I bake pizza on a pizza pan. I bought it a Wal-mart (sorry Wal-mart haters!) and it came in a set of 2 sizes. They work great!

Before I figured out you can freeze the ball of dough, I would use the left over and make an olive oil and salt focaccia bread. I'd take the lump of dough, kind of flatten it out, brush with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 500 until done. It turns out to be rather dense, but a good bread to serve with pasta.

Quick Potsticker Soup

Today while pondering my options on what I could brown bag to lunch, I noticed I still had some broccoli slaw left from Asian Tapas night. I decided I could throw together a soup with a broth, some of potstickers (also left over from Asian Tapas night), edamame, and the slaw. In about 3 minutes, I had an awesome soup.

Quick Potsticker Soup

Makes one serving.

1 can broth (I used vegetable broth)
6 frozen potstickers
1/2 cup frozen edamame (the shelled kind)
1 TBSP soy sauce
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup broccoli slaw

Add broth, potstickers, and edamame to microwavable bowl. Heat until edamame and potstickers are cooked all the way through and the broth is heated. Add soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and broccoli slaw.

Our super-hot microwave at work only took about 3 minutes to cook it all up. It was surprisingly good! I think if I added maybe some green onion on top, it would be even better.

Spinach Couscous Salad

While the photo shows that this salad is a big mess, it is really a great mix of textures. This salad has a lot of versatility - you can add almost anything you want. You can use any different type of cheese or no cheese at all. You can add any veggies or herb you want. This just happens to be the mix I made tonight. I grill the peppers and onions over the stove on a chili roaster that fits over one of my burners. It was a Christmas present, and when I opened it I seriously thought, "What the heck? When am I ever going to use this?" Truth is I use it at least 3 or 4 times a week. No joke. I don't use it just for chilies (actually, I have never used it for a chili), I grill onions, bell peppers, garlic, onions, eggplant, etc. I highly recommend if you have to buy a present for someone you don't know what to get, and you know they like kitchen stuff, buy them a chili roaster. Oh yeah, back to the salad... Here's the recipe:

Spinach Couscous Salad

3/4 cup water
1/2 cup couscous
garlic granules to taste
dried herbs (oregano, thyme, etc) to taste
salt and pepper to taste
red chili flakes to taste
5 mini bell peppers, tops removed
2 slices onion
1 tomato, chopped
3 TBSP chopped olives
about 1 TBSP red wine vinegar
about 1 1/2 TBSP olive oil
2 cups spinach, chopped
1/4 cup feta cheese

Add water to a medium sized, microwaveable bowl. Microwave until boiling. Add couscous, garlic granules, dried herbs, salt and pepper, and chili flakes. Stir to mix. Set aside.

Grill peppers and onion. Allow to cool enough to touch and then chop.

Fluff couscous, add chopped, grilled peppers and onions, tomato, olives, spinach, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and feta cheese. Toss to mix completely.

Pizza Night

A couple weeks ago (was it that long ago now? I think so...) L. (who lives across the street in the building I used to live in) brought over this awesome Strawberry Pie she made.


Isn't it pretty?!

She got the recipe from Recipezaar, and I hope she doesn't mind quoting her here, but she said it best:

"I am curious how it would taste with just the crust baked and the whole berries raw. Step 6 is bullshit; one minute my ass! I say cook the crap out of it until it is nice and reduced!"

Last night, she made some pizza dough and had Brian and I over for pizza. One of the first posts I ever wrote should have been a pizza post. However, it is an involved process so I've been putting it off, even though I made pizza probably 10 times since starting this blog. I've been working on a pizza dough post for months, so I'm glad L. made the dough. I've always wanted to make whole wheat pizza dough, but have been too scared. She did, and it was awesome. It even got big bubbles in like pizza dough should have. We did 2 different pizzas, a maragharita and a pepper and olive pizza. Here's how it was done:

Margharita Pizza
Top pizza dough with:

tomato sauce
mozzerella (i usually use a mix of part-skim, and then dot with fresh mozzerella. You can use all fresh, but it can be too wet and make the dough soggy)
Sliced tomatoes
Oregano

Bake until done, then remove from oven and top with chopped basil leaves.

Pepper and Olive Pizza

Top pizza dough with:

Tomato sauce
mozzerella
Sliced mini bell peppers - with a variety of colors
Sliced green olives
Oregano
Feta cheese

And she didn't even kick me out when I knocked over a bottle of red wine on her floor! Thanks, L. - it was awesome!

Curry Catsup

Brian always said he never liked sweet potatoes (until he had mine at Thanksgiving). Now, he and I are loving Alexia Sweet Potato Fries (yeah, I could make my own, but how easy is it to open a bag, dump a bunch on a cookie sheet, and bake for 20 minutes?). To go along with it, I can't just serve plain old ketchup. So I make Curry Catsup. I use Heinz, which is now spelled ketchup (for discussion on the spelling, see World Wide Words).

Curry Catsup

1/4 cup prepared Catsup
1/2 tsp curry powder

Whisk catsup with curry powder. Can serve immediately, or refrigerate for an hour or so to intensify flavors.

Asian Tapas

The other night I made an "Asian Tapas" spread for dinner (I suppose some would call it Dim Sum, but it wasn't that authentic - and it wasn't really a "spread," but I digress). It was vegetable potstickers (from a frozen package), Spring Rolls, and Edamame Hummus.

Brian actually made the Edamame Hummus while I prepared the spring rolls. The first time he ever cooked for me, that is what he made (and shrimp tempura and spring rolls).

Edamame Hummus

1 clove garlic
1/2 pound frozen shelled edamame, about 1 1/2 cups
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons), juiced
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (I'm not sure Brian uses Cumin anymore)
About 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
About 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
About 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
toasted sesame seeds to garnish

Microwave the soybeans in a little bit of water until fully heated.

In a food processor, chop the garlic. Scrape sides and add edamame, tahini, water, lemon zest and juice, garlic, salt, cumin, and coriander and process until until smooth. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and sesame oil.

Transfer to a small bowl, stir in drizzle with remaining oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

(the original recipe was from the Food Network Brian alters it slightly.)

I also made spring rolls, which basically what I did for Southeast Asia Night. This time I added the Bean Thread Noodles, Bell Pepper, Spinach, Broccoli Slaw, Shredded Carrots, Green Onion and Sesame Seeds.

I purchased some frozen vegetable potstickers at Central Market, and I just microwaved them. The corners ended up chewy, so it probably is better to steam them (or panfry, of course). I made the following dipping sauce to go along with them:

Soy Sesame Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic granules
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds

Add all ingredients to a small bowl. Whisk together. (Measurements are approximate. I tasted and added more of what I thought it needed. You probably could use 1 clove of garlic finely chopped, but I went with what was easy).

"Hey Y'all!" Southern Lady makes Northern Classic

I have a patron who always has me do extensive research for her. Our policy says we are not to do extensive reference research for patrons, but when she first started coming in we were slower, so I didn't mind. Well, then we got busier, and then she started getting more demanding. Then one day she sent me an email from her business accounts with her company on it. I went to the website and realize one of the main purposes for her company is to research current business trends for industries. So basically, I became an unpaid staff member of hers (yes, I know her "tax dollars" pay my salary and all that, but come one! GRUMBLE.) Anyway, I still do research for her, but I only give myself 30 minutes to devote to her, and I just do a quick send of articles through our databases and it always seems to be exactly what she needs (yes, I have shown her how to get into the databases, but some patrons want you do to everything for them).

So what does work have to do with food? Well, one day she had me research "personal branding." Which was actually very interesting. In these days of outsourcing, self-service, and automated phone systems, businesses seem to be finding success in personal service, which includes branding the personalities in the business. No one brands themselves more than the Food Network stars - to the point where we think we know these people!

The weird part I see about this personal branding of Food Network stars is that they almost become a parody of themselves. I loved Rachael Ray when she first started out, although she spouted off with "Sammies" "EVOO" and "Yummo" every once in a while. I still like the stuff she makes, and I still enjoy her shows occasionally (but not her talk show!) But now, all I hear when she talks is a raspy voice going, "Sammie sammie sammie yum evoo sammie evoo YUMMO!!!" Her idiosyncrasies exploded, and that is all I see her as now.

I'm not just picking on Rachael, I feel the same way about Mr. anti-commercialism (oxymoron much?) Anthony Bourdain and "Hey, Y'all!" Paula Deen.

Still, what does this have to do with food? Not much, but I'll get on to the food....

A couple weeks ago, a lovely co-worker of mine brought in a Paula Deen chocolate magazine. I have made a ton of copies from chocolate cookbooks that I have yet to make, so I didn't want to go overboard and make copies of the magazine to add to my collection of I'm-never-going-to-make-you dessert recipes. However, one recipe stood out: Boston Cream Cupcakes. Now, I will be honest and say I don't think I have ever actually eaten Boston Cream Pie (which is now the official Massachusetts state dessert). However, everytime I go to Boston, I get a Boston Cream Pie Donut at Dunkin Donuts. Being that it has been 10 years since I went to Boston, I immediately I thought, "I must make this!" Fortunately, I had some motivation with the Boston Celtics making it into the finals. So yesterday, I made the cupcakes.

Boston Cream Cupcakes

by Paula Deen (from her Chocolate Magazine on pg. 21)
Makes 20 cupcakes

Cake and Filling

1 (18.25 oz) box yellow cake mix
1 (3.4) box instant vanilla-flavored pudding mix
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
Sinful Chocolate Ganache (recipe follows)

1. Prepare cake mix following cupcake directions. Let cupcakes cool completely.
2.In a large bowl combine pudding mix, cream, confectioners' sugar, milk, and sour cream. Beat at medium speed until stiff peaks form. Spoon pudding mixture into a squeeze bottle that has a long narrow tip. Insert tip into top of cupcake, and squeeze about 1 tablespoon pudding mixture into center of cupcake. Repeat procedure with remaining filling and cupcakes. Spread Sinful Chocolate Ganache evenly over each cupcake. Store covered in refrigerator.

Okay, first let me start off by saying that the recipe, even based on the cupcake directions from the box, did not make 20 cupcakes. It made 24. I made the cakes the night before that way they had plenty of time to cool.

For the filling: who makes a 3.4 oz instant vanilla pudding box? I saw 1.7 and 5.1 but no 3.4. Maybe Market Street just didn't have it medium, so I bought the large 5.1 oz, and just measured out 3.4 oz on my scale.

I assume Paula means one of those clear squirt bottles to put the filling in. I didn't have one of those. I did however, have some pastry tips that I did the trick all the Food Network Stars use is to put it on a plastic bag. I used one tip that was long and narrow, but the filling was too thick, so I had to switch to wider tip. I really couldn't tell how much I was getting into each. I basically did it until the top cracked a little. After I had all the cupcakes filled I still had a lot of filling left - about a cup! So I went back and tried to add a little more filling. Well, that doesn't work too well. All it really did was start oozing out to tops. Then my plastic bag decided to give and filling started squiggling out tiny little holes in the bag. At that point, I decided there was enough filling in the cupcakes and I was just going to trash the rest of it.

Sinful Chocolate Ganache

by Paula Deen (from her Chocolate Magazine on pg. 21)

6 1-oz) squares semisweet chocolate
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups confectioners' sugar

In a medium bowl, combine chocolate and cream. Microwave on high in 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until chocolate is melted and smooth (about 2 minutes total). Gradually whisk in confectioners' sugar until smooth. Let mixture cool until it reaches a spreadable consistency (about 30 minutes).

So I know officially Boston Cream Pie is supposed to have a chocolate glaze on top. I followed Paula's recipe and let it cool to spreading temperature, but it was still too runny to spread. If I made these again, I would keep the ganache like that, but make more cupcakes with less cake, so that there is enough space on the paper to hold ganache from running over. My cupcakes were too tall to do that, and the glaze just ran off the side. So, I added more confectioners' sugar until it got to a spreading consistency - probably about another 3/4 of a cup to one cup. I added it by 1/4 cup intervals, whisked and examined the texture before I added another 1/4 cup.

The Result (and proof that I am not a food stylist):



The Verdict (or was it worth the effort?):

In anything you do, you must ask yourself the question of does the result justify the effort? Does a picture of my sink answer that?

And this happened on the way with the filling bag to the trash:


This is definitely one of the messiest desserts I have made. I would make them again if I had a fancy cupcake filling contraption - or maybe just a bottle like Paula said to use in the first place.