Hot Black-eyed Pea Dip

Brian isn't a big fan of Black-eyed peas. The musical group or the food. Brian didn't grow up in Texas or the South, so he never heard about the superstition to eat them on New Years for good luck. My grandfather (from the northern Midwest) didn't like them either and my grandmother used to sneak them into his food so he'd get his good luck.

I tried Texas Caviar one year for New Year's, he ate it but later said "eh."

I saw this recipe from the Pioneer Woman. Anything with melted cheese has to be good, and Brian love dip.  I altered it slightly, and he said he liked it. I thought it was good, but because I was worried about the heat, I omitted the hot sauce, used fresh jalepeno, mild salsa. It could have used a little more heat. Just a bit.

Here's the version I made:

Hot Black-eyed Pea Dip

1 can (14-ounce) Can Black-eyed Peas
1/4 cup Onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup Sour Cream
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh Jalapeno (or more to taste)
1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
1 cup Grated Sharp White Cheddar Cheese
3 Tablespoons Salsa
Salt, chili powder, and Black Pepper To Taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain black-eyed peas and partially mash, leaving some whole.
Add all other ingredients, stirring to combine.

Spread into a 1 1/2 quart baking dish and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until hot and bubbly.
Serve with tortilla chips

Brian grilled salmon on top of a spinach salad to go along with it. It was too nice of weather yesterday to not fire up the grill.

Happy New Year!

Heirloom Caprese Avocado Salad

Aren't these heirloom tomatoes beautiful! This was an heirloom tomato, fresh mozzarella, pesto, and baby greens with balsamic vinegar.

Grape and Goat Cheese Salad

Ingredients:

Spinach

Red or Black Seedless Grapes (halved)

Chopped Onion

Toasted Walnuts

Goat Cheese

Balsamic Vinaigrette

New Kitchen Blues

I'm not blue about my new kitchen... I love it! I'll love it more when I get my new stove on Friday!

I'm blue because I just haven't really had time to cook. Most of our cooking has consisted of Brian's Chili Dip and Veggie dogs. I did FINALLY make Donkey Tails for Brian - I've been telling him forever I wanted to make them, and he always makes a face, but guess what - He likes them!

Brian's Chili Dip
1 package cream cheese (we use Neufchatel)
1 can chili (we usually use Hormel Vegetarian, but last night we used Amy's Southwestern, and it was really good)
Chili powder to taste
Fritos Scoops

Mix all ingredients together in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in microwave until melted, stopping to stir several times. Serve with Fritos Scoops.

Brian always makes his chili dip for parties because everyone just loves it.

Now, you may ask, "What in the world is a donkey tail!" When I was a kid, we would go to Tolbert's Restaurant in downtown Dallas. I was a meat-eater then, and I would always get the Donkey tails. Tolbert's Donkey Tails were a hotdog stuffed with cheese, wrapped in a tortilla and then deep fried. Tolbert's now is in downtown Grapevine (Here's their menu).

Donkey Tails
(for 2)

2 Hotdogs (we use LightLife Smart Dogs)
2 Tortillas
Cheddar Cheese
oil

Cook hot dogs to package directions. Cover one side of a tortilla with cheese (it can be sliced or grated, grated will melt faster). Place dog in tortilla and roll tightly. Secure with toothpick.

Oil the bottom of a frying pan. Place dogs in frying pan and cook until golden brown. Turn and cook again until golden brown. Repeat 2 more times until all sides are golden brown. Serve with mustard, salsa, or chili. I personally like it with Rotel Dip.

Mac 'n' Cheese

This past weekend, Brian wanted to grill some fish. We went to the store and decided on salmon, but we (make that I) wanted to do something different with it. After pacing the store for a while, I said that I had BBQ salmon at restaurants, but I've never tried it. Brian was up for it, so that's what we did. For sides, I threw out Mac 'n' cheese. Brian laughed at first, and then it was settled. BBQ Salmon and Mac 'n' Cheese.

I always claim to make the best Mac 'n' cheese (doesn't everyone?) although I don't make it very often. I was watching TV many years ago and flipped to the Isaac Mizrahi show. He was eating Mac 'n' Cheese and said, "It's the Muenster that makes it!" So I combed the internet looking for the recipe. Now, it's not too hard to find (google got better, or at least maybe my librarian skills got better). One click and here it is: http://www.recipezaar.com/72211.

I don't follow the recipe. I know - that's a shocker! I don't heat the milk and heavy cream together, in fact this time i didn't even use heavy cream this time, which gave it a drier texture than creamy, but it was still tasty. I also use shells instead macaroni, because I like how they clump together and hold the cheese better. I add a couple dashes of worchester sauce. I don't reserve cheese for the topping - I grate more! And I add grated Parmeseano-Reggiano to it which gives a little more crunch and browns up a little better. (oh yeah, I made about 1/3 of the recipe this time too.



Brian seems to like it! I know I do!

Apple Panini

A while back, we had a Christmas party with friends. One girl brought these little ham sandwiches (which were the same recipe as these Ham and Cheese Sandwiches (but she used Hawaiian rolls). They were so popular at the Christmas party, she was asked to keep bringing them to everything. Two of us decided to make them for a baby shower, but neither of us really liked ham, so we tried to think of a way to make them ham-less. We went with Granny Smith Apple and the result was incredible. I've translated this idea into an Apple Panini. Here I lowered the amount of butter and increased the amount of onion, even while adjusting the servings to 2.

Apple Panini

2 TBSP really soft, almost melted butter
4 TBSP Grated Onion
2 tsp grainy or dijon mustard
2 tsp poppy seeds
dash or two of Worcestershire sauce
4 slices of bread (great with sourdough, french boule, wheat, rye, or pumpernickel).
1 granny smith apple
1 1/2 cups grated cheese (Swiss, emmental, Jarlsberg, provolone, or Havarti work best)

Prepare spread by combining butter, onion, mustard, poppy seeds, and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Whisk until well blended. Spread onto all four slices of bread. Take two slices and place on hot panini grill, spread side up. Add a pile of cheese to each then top with apple slices, another pile of cheese, and the other pieces of bread, spread side down. Close panini grill cover and cook until bread is browned and cheese is melted. Remove from grill. Allow to cool a few minutes (apple retains heat!!), and slice at a diagonal.

This panini is great with a hard cider (like Woodchuck Granny Smith!).

If you don't want to make the spread, an alternative is to saute onion in a little bit of butter. Mix some dried dill in with the cheese mixture for a little extra umph.

The Friday Experiment

My mom's BD is coming up, so my sister and I decided that we would cook dinner at my place. She gave us the following criteria: No spicy Italian, no garlic. She suggested my Veggie Tacos. Then, she changed her mind and faxed me a recipe that she wanted me to make. I wanted to try it out first before I made it for her birthday dinner, so here it goes!

Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe (Spaghetti with Crushed Black Pepper and Pecorino Cheese)

Salt for the pasta water
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns, or more to taste
1 pound spaghetti
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Pecorino Romano, or more to taste

Bring a big pot of salted water to the boil.

Grind the peppercorns very coarsely, preferable crushing them in a mortar with a pestle or in a spice grinder.

Warm up a big bowl for mixing and serving the pasta - use some of the pasta water to heat the bowl, if you like.

Cook the spaghetti until al dente. Quickly lift it from the pot with tongs, let it drain for an instant, then drop it into the warm bowl.

Immediately scatter a cup of the grated cheese and most of the ground pepper on the pasta, and toss in quickly. As you mix, sprinkle over spoonfuls of hot water from the cooking pot to moisten and amalgamate the pasta and condiments - add more pepper or cheese to taste.

[originally appeared in ''Lidia's Italy" by Lidia Bastianich.]

It sounded like more of a side-dish pasta, so I decided I would make this to go along with it:

Balsamic-Glazed Salmon Fillets

6 (5 ounce) salmon fillets
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon white wine
1 tablespoon honey
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Coat a small saucepan with non-stick cooking spray. Over medium heat, cook and stir garlic until soft, about 3 minutes. Mix in white wine, honey, balsamic vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for about 3 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
3. Arrange salmon fillets on foil-lined baking sheet. Brush fillets with balsamic glaze, and sprinkle with oregano.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 14 minutes, or until flesh flakes easily with a fork. Brush fillets with remaining glaze, and season with salt and pepper. Use a spatula to transfer fillets to serving platter, leaving the skin behind on the foil.

Any time I google a recipe, inevitably several foodie blogs will be amongst the search results. I'm not sure why, but I decided to google the pasta recipe to see if anyone else had tried to make it. Sure enough, I found this incredibly informative posting: Bad Home Cooking: Mistakes were made: Spaghetti cacio e pepe (with cheese globs). I had the exact same results! All the cheese basically stuck to my tongs, and I had to pull it off. I even warmed the bowl. I even watched Lidia herself make it on the Today Show! Now, it wasn't bad, it was pretty good, but it wasn't any different than when I was in high school and I'd cook up some pasta for lunch and throw some butter, cheese, and pepper on top. Nothing special at all. Definitely not good enough for a birthday dinner.

Now, I included the recipe for the salmon that I used as an inspiration, but I didn't follow the recipe. I did cover the pan with foil, and I did make it in a sauce pan, and I did use all the ingredients, but I just dumped them in and didn't follow the the recipe. I also used olive oil to saute the garlic instead of artificial cooking spray. Oh, and I used Red wine instead of white. And I used Ground Mustard instead of Dijon. And I used dried oregano instead of fresh. Wow, I think I made something completely different!

It was pretty good. The flavor was a little more delicate than I thought it would be - it would have been nice with a little more punch.

When I bought the salmon at Central Market, the Fishmonger asked me if I wanted the head or the tail. I paused for a moment and looked at the whole side of the fish and said "Head." He said, "I that that part better too." I had to fess up - I said, "Honestly, I don't know the difference, you're the first person to give me the option." He said the head side was flakier, and the tail was a more solid piece. He ended up giving me the pound of fish I asked for from the head side, and he through in a little piece of the tail for me to try. I have had tail meat before: my mom used to buy a that whole piece and sometimes I would be the one to get the tail. I just couldn't remember the different except that it is a thinner slice. I suppose I could taste the difference - the tail is slightly gamier, but it is but it is barely discernible. The texture is definitely different and it stays together better. I can't say I prefer one side of the other. But unless I'm grilling it, I will probably continue to buy the Head side unless I'm grilling it.

So, needless to say, we'll be having tacos for her BD.

The Erica Salad

Brian and I eat several salads a week. This is one of my favorites. If you don't want the baked goat cheese on top, you can substitute feta crumbles. I told a lovely co-worker about it, and she makes it now too. She named it the Erica Salad. I usually just call it Baked Goat Cheese Salad. I adapted the goat cheese from a recipe appearing in Real Simple magazine. Here's the recipe (I'm afraid I don't really measure, so just do it to taste):

Baked Goat Cheese Salad

Spinach
Dried Cranberries
Toasted Pine Nuts
Onion
Baked Goat
Cheese (recipe follows)
Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing (recipe follows)

Baked Goat Cheese:
Slice Goat Cheese 1/2 " thick. Coat goat cheese slices with olive oil, and dredge in bread crumbs Italian flavor, or plain mixed with oregano, thyme, garlic powder, and pepper). Refrigerate coated slices for 30 minutes. Bake Goat Cheese slices at 350 degrees until crumbs turn golden
brown.

Dressing:
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Nutmeg
Garlic
Powder
Oregano
Thyme
salt
pepper


Mix together a couple TBSPs of Balsamic Vinegar, a couple dashes of nutmeg, garlic powder, oregano, thyme salt and pepper. Slowly drizzle in Olive Oil and whisk until emulsified. Pour dressing over a couple handfuls of baby spinach, a handful of dried cranberries, chopped onion, and toasted pine nuts. Toss. Plate and then place goat cheese rounds on top.

I highly recommend a glass of red wine with this salad. Enjoy!