recipe | prosciutto wrapped mozzarella

 d

Zan suggested that we stay in and cook for a date night this past Friday. At first, I nixed that idea and suggested we try to get into Rose's Luxury - the restaurant de jour in DC. By Thursday night, we were both worn out from the week and the thought of making our way across town, joining a 2-3 hour long waiting list (for real) and sipping drinks at a bar until we got a table seemed daunting, at best. I circled back to his original idea to stay in, offered to cook, and asked him politely to bring at least one bottle of bubbles from his wine fridge because, you know, it's a day that ends in a "y." And - if you ask me, every Friday should be celebrated with the sound of a pop and fizz.

I came across this unbelievably simple recipe for prosciutto wrapped mozzarella a few months ago. It got buried on my Pinterest board, and I am kicking myself because I could have been enjoying this incredible appetizer/lunch/breakfast/any meal/every meal for months. But at least now I've righted my wrong, right? This is the easiest appetizer I've ever made. It requires two ingredients, an oven, a frying pan, and enough will power not to devour the entire ball in one sitting. Alone.

Fortunately, I had Zan to help me.

ingredients
fresh mozzarella ball
4-6 slices of prosciutto (i say get the real, imported stuff - go big or go home!)

steps
warm up your oven to 350 degrees
use paper towels to dry off the mozzarella ball as best you can. don't worry - they don't stick!
wrap the ball in the prosciutto. it'll stick on its own.
sear the ball on both sides for 1 minute on each in a small frying pan over medium heat
set the ball on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. keep an eye on it - when it starts to melt on the sides, it's close to done. much longer, and it will become a melted mess (but that's delicious, too)

i drizzed olive oil on small italian bread slices and toasted them on the same baking sheet
we used a knife our fingers to cut tear off chunks of the ball onto our bread
it pairs delightfully well with bubbles, just saying!
enjoy!

pi day | chocolate french silk

 Happy Pi π Day! 

My friend Melanie, the creative mind behind The Things They Made, linked me a few weeks ago to a delicious looking pie recipe that she intended to make for her company's "pi day" competition. March 14th, official "pi" day, makes for a natural celebration of the decadent baked good pie... and math, too. If that's your thing. But my thing is eating pie. 

My office, unfortunately, didn't have a competition - everything is better when you compete! - but I did opt to bring one in to spread the geeky cheer. I picked up my Smitten Kitchen cookbook, by now famous blogger Deb Perelman (you might have heard of her!) and flipped through until I landed on her chocolate silk pie. Decadent. Rich. Intense. Let's do it. 

I heard Deb speak at Politics and Prose, my favorite local bookstore in D.C., when her book was newly released. I was a fairly new reader of her blog, and I had only tried a single recipe. She charmed my socks off. She is a force of energy; she has a great laugh and a wonderful reading and speaking voice.  

She didn't read from her cookbook, that could have been strange (though I would have stayed to listen); instead she told a little about how she got to where she is now (published!) and answered questions. What was most remarkable to me about Deb is her humility and humor. She is as quick witted as she is dexterous in the kitchen. Pi Day gave me a perfect excuse to finally, finally, make a recipe straight from her book. 

Here are a few pics - find the recipe down below. 

 the crust

1.5 cups chocolate wafer crumbs (approximately 3/4 of a 9oz package of Famous Chocolate Wafers)

2 tablespoons sugar (I used a tiny bit less...)

pinch of salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (microwaved for 45 seconds)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Crumb the wafers - either put them in a ziploc bag and go to town beating them, or put them in a food processor broken up, like I did. Once crumbed, mix in the sugar and salt. Drizzle in the melted butter until it's even throughout. Using your hands (easiest), pat the crust into the bottom and on the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Bake for 10 minutes and place in the fridge to cool. 

the filling 

12 tablespoons butter, room temperature (no joke.)

1 cup sugar (again, i tried to use a little less, but i like slightly-less-sweet things)

3oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled (i stuck my brick o'chocolate in a pan on the stove and stirred - melted in 2-3 minutes)

3 large eggs (you'll want organic, pasteurized, etc etc - the good stuff)

1 teaspoon vanilla (+ a few drops. always.)

in your stand mixer (or you could do it with a hand one), whip butter and sugar together until it's a pale and fluffy mixture. While still beating away, drizzle in the melted chocolate (my favorite part!). Add the eggs one at a time, beating each egg into the mixture for five minutes (seriously). Make sure you're scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla and blend well (a minute). Pour your delicious filling into the now cool crust and spread evenly. Allow the pie to chill for at least 6 hours.

the garnish

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon sugar

beat the cream and sugar until it "just holds soft peaks." this will take all of your life. plan to mix for at least 20-25 minutes. the whipped cream is kind of like falling in love - you'll know when you know (when it's done). spread on top of your pie, garnish with chocolate chips or bittersweet shavings, if you'd like, and devour.

roasted leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic

Every winter I think I'm fine, right up until I feel the first warm rays of Spring sunshine. My mood soars as high as the temperature outside. I feel unstoppable and like the city is brand new; every time it hits 65 again after a long, dark, cold winter, I fall in love with D.C. again. I'm a different person infused with Vitamin D. I'm the version of myself that I crave and love the very most. I was born in the Sunshine State; it's in my bones.

While Spring teased D.C. and me this weekend, I ate like it was my last weekend of winter. I guess I wanted the best of both worlds. I had Italian-certified pizza, (over)indulged in a brunch of chicken and waffles (and chocolate chip pancakes the next day), tried a new ramen place with an old friend, and made a homemade dinner of roasted lamb. I squeezed into my running pants and fit in a hike and a run in there, too.

It was simply the best weekend.

And on top of it all, on Friday night, my roommate Matt received his admissions letter to the School of International Service at American University. He's officially a grad student! It was incredible to see all of his hard work over the last year pay off, and I'm so proud of him. Which, of course, meant there was celebrating to be done! I didn't know you could get cut off from Champagne, did you?

So about that lamb...

After all the celebration shenanigans Friday-night-into-Saturday-morning, and a jam-packed Saturday afternoon, all Zander and I wanted to do was take a nap and spend the evening indoors. He had a leg of lamb laid out from earlier in the week, and potatoes, cauliflower, and asparagus left over from last week's Green Grocer box. I couldn't dream up a better dinner to say goodbye to winter and hello to Spring.

I adapted this Emeril Lagasse garlic and rosemary lamb recipe to meet our tastes. The rest of the meal is my own. 

roasted leg of lamb
1 leg of lamb (we used boneless, about 5-6 pounds)
fresh rosemary (~3 tablespoons, or, as much as you want)
6 cloves garlic, chopped
pinch (or 2) cayenne
salt & pepper
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

sauce
every great meat dish has a sauce to go with it...
herbs of your choice (we used rosemary, fresh basil, and oregano - parsley would also be good)
1/2 large onion diced
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup red wine

mashed potatoes
4-6 small potatoes of your choice
1/2-3/4 cup milk (or cream)
1/4 cup butter (1/2 of a stick) + 1 tablespoon
salt & pepper, to taste

roasted veggies
1 head cauliflower
1 bunch asparagus
lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt & pepper
2-3 cloves crushed garlic
handful of shredded parmesan

how to... 

Lamb: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Using your hands, rub the leg of lamb down with the fresh rosemary, garlic, cayenne, salt & pepper. Dip your hands into the lemon juice and rub the juice into the meat. Place the hunk of meat in a roasting pan, and roast for 20 minutes. Turn the oven temp down to 350 degrees and roast another 35 minutes. Take the pan out, and place the meat on another plate or serving platter to cool for 10-15 minutes. Don't get rid of the droppings in your roasting pan, we'll need those next! TIP: It will cook (a lot!) as it cools. If it still looks rare, it will up-cook to medium rare. Mmmmm!

Sauce: Set your roasting pan vertical on two burners on your stove. Add the onions and herbs and stir until everything is evenly mixed and coated. Add the chicken stock and wine - this will deglaze the pan, meaning you'll be able to get up the little scraps stuck to it. Turn your burns on medium-medium high heat and stir constantly until the sauce begins to simmer and thicken.

Potatoes: While your lamb is roasting, peel (or don't, skin is good) and cut your potatoes. Wash. Place in a large pot with enough water to cover + 1 inch. Add a tablespoon of butter and a pinch of salt to the water. Let boil until you can easily insert a fork into the potatoes. Remove and drain. Dump potatoes into a mixer, add milk or cream, butter, salt and pepper, and fresh garlic, if you'd like, and mix until smooth and creamy. Add more milk and butter depending on the consistency you want. I like peppery potatoes, so I load it up.

Veggies: While the meat is roasting, roughly chop your cauliflower florets. Tear off the ends of your asparagus and break into as big or small pieces as you'd like. In a large bowl, toss the vegetables with some of your left over lemon juice,olive oil, sat & pepper, and crushed garlic. When the meat comes out of the oven, raise the temperature to 500 degrees. Spread out on a thin roasting pan and roast for 15 minutes (the meat will be done then, too!). Sprinkle parmesan on top and move to a serving bowl.

And there ya have a delicious, savory meal that will bridge these awkward days between winter and Spring!

italy called and wants its homemade bolognese sauce back

I don't like not knowing the right answer. It harkens back to my days of being a teacher's pet. I like to always be right, and I like to be the first one to be right. My brother gave me the ever-charming moniker, "Know it All" when I was a kid. Oh man, how I hated it. Oh man, how I loathed it. And oh man, how I loved it. You gotta be some kind of smartypants to get that kind of accolade. (Thank god I got nerdier cooler with age. ;)) 

So you can imagine the extreme torture it is to be asked a question, especially a simple one, and not know the answer. Oh, how it destroys me! Go ahead, stick your hand in and twist my vitals! It's the worst. And that sickening torture happens every time someone asks, "What's your favorite food?" 

...

WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT? 

You might as well ask me if I prefer semicolons or colons, or to choose between To Kill a Mockingbird and The Invisible Man (the nerd level in this post is damn-near reaching unreadable!). I am twitching even typing this, even THINKING of these absurd, irresponsible, rude, mean, cruel, torturous, impossible questions. 

There's pizza. Jesus, my love for pizza is truly worthy of invoking the name of a deity. 

Ham. OH HAVE MERCY, how much I love ham - honey ham, spiral cut ham, off the bone ham. I'm sloshing about in a drool-covered keyboard now. 

A perfectly cooked steak. 

Duck boob.

Roasted broccoli.

Edamame.

Hummus.

Edamame hummus.

Cajun french fries. 

Shut the front effing door, I hate this question and everyone who has ever asked it.

But if we're all six years old again (have I even aged past that, really?), and someone has a gun to my head and I have to choose (what kind of mind games do most killers really play, really?), I say... my answer is... are you ready? Sitting down? Reading this on your mobile device trying not to run into a light pole? I got distracted. 

My answer is sausage. 

Yep. Sausage. Homemade, preferably, from your local favorite Italian grocer or deli. Or in your kitchen, if you're so ambitious. Sausage. Hot Italian sausage. 

It is the best pizza topping. The best sammie filling. The best pasta protein. Hell, you could probably make hummus out of it, what do I know? (......New goal.) 

I love sausage. And I really, really adore fresh spinach pasta. So it was only a matter of time until I caved in and made homemade Bolognese sauce. I do a simplified version of this like bi-nightly (please don't judge my extreme pasta intake too harshly!), but this is big 'ole pot worth, worthy of freezing if you can keep it around that long, and it's truly homemade. 

Don't even get me started on my favorite dessert or spice. I'll be yammering for weeks. 

Recipe adapted from Sugar Free Mom's traditional Italian Bolognese sauce

ingredients

4 links Italian sausage of your choosing (i use vace's hot - located in d.c.)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 large onion chopped

4 large cloves garlic, minced + more because there's never enough garlic tip: i use a cheese grater to mince!

1 cup water

2 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes (i didn't have this much so my pictures may appear slightly more "soupy" than you will with the full two cans! i'll use the full amount next time.)

1 28oz can diced tomatoes (taste of italy from vace in d.c.)

2 tsp dried fennel seed (lovelove)

2 tsp dried basil (who am i kidding? i don't measure anything. pinch + pinch + pinch)

2 tsp salt 

2 tsp pepper

2 tsp parsley

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp thyme 

2 tsp parsley 

crushed red pepper to taste (i loaded it up)

i.e. EVERYTHING IN YOUR SPICE CABINET

pasta of your choosing (for me: fresh spinach fettucini, also from vace!)

steps 

heat your oil in a large pot on medium heat

add sausage and cook until brown (pink is okay - it will cook through while it simmers!)

add onion and garlic and saute until your house smells like heaven (/until translucent)

add crushed tomato, water, and all 100 seasonings. bring to a boil. reduce heat, cover, and simmer for one hour, or until you're mouth is watering too much to wait any longer. 

bring a separate pot of water to boil and add your pasta of choice. cook for 7-9 minutes and drain. 

if the sauce is too thick, you can add more water. if it's too thin, try adding some tomato paste. i thought the consistency was great. 

better than delivery sweet and sour chicken

I didn't eat Chinese food until I was in college (say what?!). I was a picky kid with a boring palette. I blame it on not being exposed to much variety - especially international cuisines, as I grew up. It's par for the course, probably, in a single parent household - and in Georgia, no less! We ate a lot of pasta, Hamburger Helper (gag! I can never stomach that gloopy gloppy fake cheese stuff again!), hamburgers and hot dogs, mac and cheese, chicken fingers, barbequed chicken, etc. You know, basic kid foods. That said, my mom is an awesome cook. You don't like meatloaf? My Mom's will make you a believer!

In college, I had to like Chinese. I didn't have a choice. You see, my freshman year I lived next door to Ellie - who would become my closest friend through college and post-college roommate here in D.C. We've been through "all sorts of terrain," as we joke, together. Ellie loves Chinese. She could live solely off of Chinese takeout, I really believe. 

Her family was gracious enough to take me in as another kid of their own during a few holidays when Georgia was just too far away to get home. When I stayed with them, I joined in on a lifetime long tradition of "Chinese and a movie Sundays." They rent a movie, order takeout, and spend the evening together as a family. I fell in love with general tso's chicken, egg drop soup, beef and broccoli - you name it. 

Over the years, I like to think my fondness for Chinese food has developed, that my palette has gained some depth. So when I went to China for 10 days several years ago, I expected to enjoy all the delicacies and learn names of foods I'd never heard. 

That went out in the window in a matter of hours. 

Real Chinese food in China? That stuff is sca-ry. You never know what you're eating, not ever. At the first restaurant we went to after getting to our hotel in a small area of Beijing, we lucked out by having a server that spoke a smattering of English words. We pointed to a picture on the menu that looked delicious and confidently ordered it. He shook his head and grimaced, slightly. He hunkered down and wrote, his eyes coming back up to only briefly meet ours, that pained, nervous expression still there. 

We pulled out our phrase books. 

"Beef?" We asked him. Is it? 

He nodded no. 

"Chicken?" 

No. 

"Pig?" We hoped. 

He nodded his head yes. Then no.

He floundered for a minute trying to find the words. "The foot," he finally said, pointing down at his own.

Pig's feet. 

And that was normal. And mild. And edible. We steered clear of restaurants without English descriptions after that. 

So Chinese is the one international cuisine that I will willingly admit to avoiding the "real" stuff. The Americanized versions? Get in my belly! (Gosh, I hate myself right now. Do you hate me? But it's the truth, sad as it is!)

In the last year or so I've found that I really do like sweet and sour chicken, a dish that had never been my favorite. But I can never eat more than a few bites of it before feeling sick from the surgary, gelatinous sauce. So I got very excited when I came across a recipe on pinterest for a homemade, lighter version of the dish. When I first read through the recipe, though, I stopped cold, and almost didn't "pin" it. The sauce included ketchup. Ketchup! I know I'm admitting to liking less-than-authentic Chinese food, but KETCHUP?! That's gone too far. 

But I went to the blogger's site, and oh my goodness, she has over 500 comments on this recipe. From a scan through them, they nearly all seem to be raving about this dish. So what the heck? Let's break out the ketchup and make some sweet and sour chicken, I thought. 

Holy cow. I'm never ordering this dish out again. It's delicious. Better than pig's feet, even. 

Recipe (slightly) adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

chicken ingredients

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed (1" pieces, or whatever you like - thighs would work too!)

salt and pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 large eggs, beaten (in a separate bowl)

1/4 cup canola oil (olive oil would probably be a fine substitute)

Sriracha (I used about 1/8 cup - but use according to taste - I like it spicy!)

sauce ingredients

1 cup sugar (3/4 would work just as well)

8 tablespoons ketchup

1 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce (i use less sodium)

2 teaspoons garlic powder + more because there's never enough garlic

brown (or white) rice, steamed

chopped broccoli, carrots, onions, green and red pepper, and whatever other veggies you like!

steps

preheat the over to 350F

cube your chicken and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder

pour the cornstarch into a large ziploc bag - put the raw, cubed chicken in, seal, and toss to coat

dip the cornstarch-coated chicken (it will feel almost plasticy!) into the egg (coat evenly)

heat your oil in a large (large!) skillet over medium heat (it will take several minutes to get hot)

place your cornstarch + egg coated chicken in the skillet in a single layer 

cook for 1-2 minutes and flip as evenly as you can and cook for another 1-2 minutes until brown (don't cook all the way through!) 

place all your gorgeous, browned chicken into cookie sheet or baking dish

mix all of your sauce ingredients

pour half of the mixture over the chicken in the pan 

bake for 30-45 minutes - feel free to flip the chicken once to make sure both sides get saucy

while the chicken is baking, stir fry your veggies in a small amount of oil - season with salt & pepper, garlic, and a little of your sauce

heat your remaining sauce in a small saucepan and let simmer until it heats and thickens 

serve your chicken over steamed rice with veggies and add as much sauce as you like!

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