Zucchini Tart

Dear Lauren,

I've absolutely fallen in love with Sheet Pan Suppers cookbook. You cook the whole meal on one sheet pan! Clean up is a breeze and of the ten or so recipes I've made, all but one has been outstanding and the other one was still good! I've given a copy to you, Cojo, Louise, Rebbekkah, and Patrick, and I am certain I've worn out my facebook friends with photo after photo and take after tale of cooking from this book! I think this zucchini tart is my favorite recipe but that's hard to say. The Arctic char, the flank steak, the chicken sausage with mushrooms and onions, and the tilapia tacos were all fantastic. SO were the figs, the bruschetta, the French toast casserole, the pesto chicken turnovers, and the cod on potato rafts! You see what I mean? GREAT BOOK!  Go look at my Instagram for photos of more of these dishes if you like.

Zucchini Tart
based on Sheet Pan Suppers cookbook

1 sheet frozen puff pastry*, thawed per package instructions**
all-purpose flour, for rolling out the dough
4 ounces cream cheese
4 ounces herbed goat cheese
4 medium size zucchini
salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375 with the oven rack in the center. Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll out the thawed puff pastry with a rolling pin to a little smaller than the size of your sheet pan. If you make it slightly too big, you can trim off the edges with a pastry scraper. Transfer the puff pastry to a parchment lined sheet pan. Use your pastry scraper to make slight indentions (do not cut all the way through) around the edge of the pastry to make a 3/4 inch border. Dock the pastry inside the border with a fork about every inch or so. Place the sheet pan in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. If your cream and goat cheese are room temperature you can simply mix them together with a spoon in a bowl. If they are still cold, place both in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds and then stir them together until combined. Set aside. Cut both ends off the zucchinis and slide a vegetable peeler down the length of each zucchini to make dozens of zucchini ribbons. You can also use a mandoline. Place the ribbons in a bowl and add a large pinch of salt and several turns of pepper and toss. Set aside. After 20-30 minutes in the refrigerator, remove the sheet pan with the pastry and spread the cheese mixture inside the 3/4 inch border. Take a paper towel and pat the zucchini dry - the salt will have caused the zucchini to shed some moisture. This is an important step, you do not want a soggy tart. Arrange the ribbons by the handful (or in any artistic display you can conjure) and drizzle the olive oil over the zucchini. Bake for 45 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the zucchini is browned in spots. Serve warm or at room temperature. We have also eaten leftovers of this tart straight from the refrigerator - it is delicious any way! 

Love,
Mom

*I made this with both Dufour and Pepperidge Farms puff pastries. Dufour is much more expensive and yes, it is tastier. You will love this tart regardless of the brand you use.
** Do NOT try to unfold puff pastry until it's thawed or you will tear it.

Celebrating the One Year Anniversary of Donna Currie's Make Ahead Bread!

Cheese Ball Rolls

Dear Lauren, 

As I've told you many times before, Donna Currie is an incredible baker, cook, and all-around person. I have thoroughly enjoyed baking from her book, Make Ahead Bread: 100 Recipes for Melt-in-Your-Mouth Fresh Bread Every Day, which celebrates its one year anniversary Wednesday, November 4. 

Donna breaks down every recipe into baby steps over at least two days so even beginning bread bakers will have success. Take the recipe I've highlighted for you here. I've never made cinnamon rolls before, yet my dough was fantastic! I mean look at it! If I can do this, so can you!   

In addition to these rolls, I just want to tell you about some of my other successes with this book that have now become staples in my kitchen.

Sweet Bubble Loaf - I followed Donna's instructions and I looked at the unbaked results on Day 1. I was concerned. How in the world would these little dough balls turn into something amazing? Yet, they did! I think of this loaf as a cross between cinnamon bread and monkey bread. It's better than either!

Grandma Pizza - I've made this so many times you thinks it's "my" recipe! No, it's Donna's! My favorite toppings are Muir Glen Pizza Sauce, grated Dubliner cheese (untraditional, but so flavorful!), and Boar's Head pepperoni. I go very lightly on the toppings because it's the "bread" that is the real star of this pizza show.

Gluten-Free Seed and Nut Bread - We have a neighbor whose mother must eat a gluten free diet so he is always looking for a good gluten free this or that. This loaf is a wonderful nut bread. It could be used for french toast but we really liked ours buttered and toasted. It's wonderful straight out of the oven too! Had I been served this, I would not have known this was a gluten free bread!

Crisp Sesame Breadsticks - I'm planning a party at my home in November and these breadsticks will provide an edible centerpiece. And bonus - these breadsticks will keep in the pantry for weeks in the unlikely event I have leftovers!

Basic Pizza Dough (not photographed, I am SO SORRY!) - I read and re-read this recipe. Are you kidding me? You literally throw all the ingredients in a ziploc bag, zip it, and then squish and smush the ingredients around for a minute. That's it? No kneading? No mess? I admit, I had low expectations for this. I've put a lot more effort into pizza dough in the past and it never tasted very good to me. But what was there to lose? It's so easy! I will tell you this. I made a pizza with this dough and it was a thing of beauty. Thin crust that holds the ingredients without bending, yet is flavorful and tender to the bite. Keeper.

Cheese Ball Rolls
by Sandra
Adapted from Blueberry and Cream Cheese Buns with Lemon Zest from Make Ahead Bread by Donna Currie

For the Dough:
3 1/2 cups bread flour, plus extra for kneading and rolling
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg, slightly beaten, plus water to equal 1 1/2 cups total

For the Filling:
One recipe of a cheese ball of your choice, I used Nettie's Cheese Ball (see below) but a double recipe of this would be another excellent choice.

On Prep Day:
1. Butter a 9" x 13" glass baking dish. 

2. Make the cheese ball. Set it aside and keep it at room temperature for easy spreading.

3. Combine all dough ingredients in a mixing bowl and then knead for 10 minutes until dough is elastic. You can use a stand mixer with a dough hook if you like, I didn't. 

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit until the dough has doubled in size, about one hour in a warm room. (Tip: When you begin making this recipe, preheat your oven to 180°F and as soon as it has preheated, shut the oven off and open the oven door. Set the covered bowl of dough in the oven to rise. If your house is already warm - 70 to 80 degrees - this step is unnecessary.)

5. On a clean, dry work surface, spread a little flour and pat the dough into a rectangular shape. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is approximately 12" x 16". With an offset spatula, spread the cheese ball mixture evenly over the dough, leaving about a 1" edge on the long side free of cheese ball mixture.

6. Starting on the opposite long side from where you left the dough free of cheese ball mixture, loosely roll up the dough, jellyroll style. Cut into 1" rolls. You will end up with 12, but if your end rolls are small you might end up with 13. This is fine.

7. Place the rolls in the baking dish 3 across and 4 down. If you have 13 rolls, place the two smallest side by side as if they are one. Cover the pan and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.

To Bake:
1. Take the rolls out of the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Bake the rolls for 40-45 minutes. If the rolls seem to be browning too much, tent the pan with aluminum foil for the rest of the baking period.

3. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then serve. Can be served as they are, with sausage and eggs, or with butter and fig spread.*  

4. These rolls are best the day they are baked. Unlike any other bread I know of though, you can reheat these one at a time for 20-30 seconds in the microwave and the roll's texture does not suffer. Try it and see what you think. We refrigerated these rolls and every day for 3 days had another and another, all of them reheated in the microwave. 

Nettie's Cheese Ball
by Sandra
Adapted from Nettie's recipe that my friend Tamela shared with me

2 8-ounce cream cheese, softened
2 cups sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup beer
2 - 3 Tablespoons green bell pepper, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 dashes cayenne pepper
2 Tablespoons pimentos, minced
2 green onions (both white and green parts), minced
1/2 cup nuts of your choice, finely chopped (optional)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until well-combined. Set aside.

If you are making a cheese ball with this recipe, rather than the Cheese Ball Rolls, mix all ingredients except the nuts together and form a ball. Roll in the nuts. Refrigerate from several hours to overnight before serving.

Love,

P.S. I now consider my obsession with this fig spread to be lifelong. You've seen it, I know you have. It's in the cheese section of many grocery stores. You can try to substitute fig preserves or fig jam, but it's not even close to the same. This goes very well with these delicious Cheeseball Rolls or with the Sweet Bubble Bread. Or in a spoon. Yum yum.

Ground Bison Empanadas with Fire Sauce and Cilantro Cream

Dear Lauren,

Dad bought ground bison at Costco. Then he just left it in the freezer. I'd say, hey, do you want a bison burger? And he'd say, no. So one day I decided to make some bison empanadas. They were fantastic. The only thing that went wrong with them is the time of day I made them. I'm a daytime photographer. Give me natural light and I can usually make your mouth water. But, I made these at night and I had one chance to take a photo or two before these empanadas were completely gone! What I am saying is, the photos might not make your mouth water, but the empanadas really are incredible. 

Ground Bison Empanadas with Fire Sauce and Cilantro Cream

adapted from Cowgirl Chef and Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking

This recipe requires preparation and planning. Read the entire recipe through and develop your plan of action and complete your mise en place! First, you will make the empanada dough. Then you will make the bison filling and fire sauce while the dough chills. Next, you will make the empanadas and while they bake you will make the cilantro cream. The cilantro cream can be made up to 3 days ahead. The empanadas can be made to the point of baking and frozen for future use*. Once you make the empanadas, expect all of them to be eaten! They are delicious!

Empanada Dough

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon Slap Ya Mama Hot

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick very cold butter cut into small pieces**

1 egg

1/3 cup ice water (more or less)

1 Tablespoon white vinegar

Whisk together the flour and seasonings in a bowl. Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture. You can use a food processor if you pulse, but I think it's easier and definitely less of a mess to use the pastry cutter. Your choice. Use the method that makes you happy. You've succeeded in cutting in the butter when your flour mixture has small but visible pearls of butter. Set aside.

Whisk together one egg, ice water and vinegar. Add this to the flour mixture and stir a few times. If the dough seems too dry, add a tiny bit more water until the dough will come together, but is not wet. Dump the mixture onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form a disc. Wrap it up and refrigerate it for an hour.

**This is how I cut my butter into small pieces for this dough, for biscuits, for any other dough recipes of this kind. I cut the stick of butter into thirds on the long side. I lay the three planks flat and then I cut each plank into thirds on the long side again. Then I make 1/4 inch cuts on the short side from one side to the other. I end up with 1/4 inch cubes. Then I freeze them right on the cutting board for about 20 - 30 minutes before I need to make the dough.

Emeril's Southwest Seasoning
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons paprika
1 Tablespoon ground coriander
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano

Mix together. You will not need all of this mixture for this recipe, but isn't that great? Use it in other recipes.

Cilantro Cream
1 cup Greek yogurt (can use sour cream or crema fresca or a mixture of any of the three, whatever is on hand)
cilantro, chopped (I used  1/4 cup or thereabouts, you use to your taste)
juice of one lime
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
water to loosen, if necessary

Mix all ingredients together and adjust ingredients until the flavors are how you like them. Can be made up to 3 days in advance. Serve with empanadas. There is room for improvising in this mixture. For example, some limes are juicer than others. Use your taste buds! If you find this is too limey, add a little salt, maybe even a little more. Keep tasting.

Ground Bison Filling with Fire Sauce
1/2 pound bison, ground (you can use whatever you want: beef, chicken, whatever you like, ground or finely diced)
1 Tablespoon Emeril's Southwest Seasoning (recipe above), divided
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 ears fresh corn off the cob, cobs discarded :-)
1 chopped poblano pepper, or other pepper you choose
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (use less if you'd rather have less heat)
freshly ground black pepper
1-2 minced shallots
3 cloves minced garlic
2 cups beef stock
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 egg
2 Tablespoons water

Sprinkle the meat with two teaspoons Southwest seasoning and mix together with hands so the seasoning is evenly distributed.

Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat. Add the olive oil and meat mixture and stir fry briefly, until you see some color on the meat. Add all ingredients through and including the garlic and stir fry for about 1-2 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups of beef stock to the skillet and while it comes to a boil, whisk the remaining 1/2 beef stock and cornstarch in a bowl. Add stock/cornstarch mixture to the skillet and stir thoroughly. Cook for a few minutes until you can see the liquid has turned into a slightly thickened sauce. Don't reduce the sauce too much.

Remove skillet from the heat. Drain the sauce into a small saucepan and cook for a few minutes over medium. Turn to low and keep it warm until ready for serving.

Put the remaining meat filling into a bowl. Cool until about room temperature.

Preheat oven to 375°F .

Whisk the egg and water in a bowl to make the egg wash. Set aside.

Roll out the empanada dough (if it is too cold to roll smoothly, wait a few minutes and try again) to 1/4-inch thickness, adding flour to keep it from sticking when necessary. It might crack a little here and there, just smooth it with your  damp fingers, it will be fine. Decide on the size of your empanadas. I cut little 4-inch ones with a biscuit cutter, but you can divide the dough in quarters and just make 4 large ones in a more rustic shape, it's up to you and your needs and creativity. Discard extra dough.

Brush the tops of the rolled and formed empanada dough with egg wash. Do not overfill with the meat filling. Fold the dough over the meat filling and crimp with a fork. Brush the tops of the empanadas with egg wash and place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake until the edges are browned. Baking time will depend on the size of the empanadas. Mine took about 13 minutes, larger ones could take up to 30. Just watch them and use your eyes and nose!

Place empanadas on a plate, drizzle with fire sauce, and serve with cilantro cream.

Love,



*P.S.  Having empanadas in the freezer, ready to use whenever the mood strikes, is such a wonderful gift to yourself or someone you love. Try it.

Marinated Mushrooms

Dear Lauren,

I've been placing bets with myself over who would do it first. Every morning I sit on the spot on the couch closest to the arm and in front of the ottoman. At night, Dad does. Every morning I balance my coffee cup on the arm like it's an end table. Every night, Dad does the same with a Diet Coke. The old sofa arms were rolled and a little flattened with age and made better end tables. The new sofas have track arms, but I like how they look.

Maybe I should go drink my coffee upstairs where the old couch is?

Yes, I spilled the coffee this morning. 

This has nothing at all to do with mushrooms, does it? 

I'm not much of a vinegar fan, but I had a baked chicken dish that I wanted to make and it called for mushrooms. Mushrooms can be kind of bland so I thought, "why not?" Let's marinate! The chicken dish was all the better for these mushrooms and I really think the orange zest I added helped, too. I'm still working on that chicken recipe, you'll have to wait for it!

Scrambled Eggs with Fresh Parsley
and Sauteed Marinated Mushrooms

Marinated Mushrooms

adapted from A Celebration of Herbs

8 ounces mushrooms

1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1/4 cup wine vinegar (red or white - I used sherry wine vinegar)

lemon juice from half a lemon, about 1 Tablespoon

a heaping Tablespoon fresh chives, minced

a heaping teaspoon fresh tarragon, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon sugar

a heaping teaspoon fresh dill, minced

1 small clove garlic, minced

Clean the mushrooms and set them aside. You can slice, quarter, or leave them whole based on what you will use them for. Put all the rest of the ingredients in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag and shake until well-combined. Taste and make adjustments for salt. Add the mushrooms to the bag and refrigerated for at least 4 hours. Serve.

Love,

P.S. I won $50 on the bet!

Cards Pizza

Dad and I are playing cards tonight. Just the two of us. Right now. We take turns picking what game we play. So far he's won every game out of 5. We used the Elvis cards. Elvis has been bad luck for me tonight and I'm the one who bought the cards at his museum in Tupelo! No loyalty!

Deviled Pepperoni Eggs

Dear Lauren,

I love Cook My Book. Just love it! I feel like I am constantly taking a cooking class as I read through yet another cookbook. The one I have right now is from my friend, Linda. It's the Carla Hall book, Cooking with Love. You may know Carla, but I didn't and as I read through the comments written on the pages of this cookbook by the others cooking in our club, I realized that everyone seems to know Carla Hall! Why don't I? So, I read her bio and it's obvious to me I need to start watching Top Chef and The Chew. Seriously, I need to get with the program!

As I thumbed through this book, I could not believe how many of the recipes had been cooked and written about. I felt sorry for the first recipe though, no one had made it! So I decided to and it was such a hardship for me - deviled eggs - lol! I love making new deviled egg recipes, not just because of the deviled egg eating that follows, but also because the authors usually write in their own spin on how to boil an egg. Carla's worked perfectly and it didn't take much time at all!

Chick Flick Hummus and Pita Chips

Dear Lauren,

So, we have this wall in our pantry. It's narrow, but it's really tall, I'd say 12 feet. One week when Dad was out of town, I went to Home Depot and I bought some magnetic paint and I bought some chalkboard paint. And I painted the narrow, tall wall. It required a ladder, plastic sheeting and tools (wow, that sounds too much like Dexter, doesn't it?).

Mexican Caesar Salad

Dear Lauren,

Mexican Caesar Salad.

I know what you're going to say!

Chickpea-Potato Pancakes

Dear Lauren,

 You can have them with the sauce.

 Or you can have them with a squeeze of lemon.

Or you can have them with cilantro-coriander whipped cream. Holy cow.

Plum, Goat Cheese, & Pistachio

Dear Lauren,

Appetizers. Don't over-think them. Don't make a lot of work for yourself. You're supposed to enjoy the party, right?

So slice some plums or apricots in half and remove the pit. Add a little goat cheese and chopped pistachios and serve. Yes, this is a recipe. :-)

Love,

Spring Rolls are Just Like Tacos

Dear Lauren,

The first meal you, Dad, and I ever ate together was at Kim Son in Houston, Texas. You were 4. We were...older than that. You ate 4 of these. And you were tiny! You also called Dad...dad. And Dad and I ended up with the same fortune in each of our cookies.

It was a moment.