I can't think of a more appropriate dinner to take to a baseball game than mini Italian sliders. (Pun intended) Monday night I packed the sliders and the rest of our dinner into our picnic basket and we headed to the field to watch my son's baseball game. As it turned out, the game got cut short so we ended up bringing our picnic home and we ate it outside on the back deck. The sliders were good but it just wasn't quite the same as eating them at the ballpark. Italian Meatball Sliders 1 Tablespoon olive oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 3 green onions, diced 1/3 cup ricotta cheese 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped 1/4 cup panko 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/8 teaspoon salt 16 ounces ground pork 8 ounces turkey Italian sausage 1 egg 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce 12 basil leaves 12 slider buns
Remove from grill and place slider on bottom bun. Top each with a Tablespoon of marinara and a fresh basil leaf. My dad actually cooked the sliders for me so I can't really take all the credit for these juicy little burgers. It was definitely a group effort to get dinner cooked and packed. Sliders and baseball - a perfect match. Ciao!
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I love to make new and unique recipes but there is something very comforting about making the old and familiar recipes that I've made for years. Last week, I made a recipe and a half of this coffee cake batter. I made a traditional bundt coffee cake and a dozen mini bundt cakes for Easter morning. Pecan Sour Cream Coffee Cake Streusel 1/2 cup pecans, ground fine 3 Tablespoons brown sugar 1 Tablespoon flour 1 teaspoon cinnamon Cake 1 cup butter, softened 6 eggs 1 3/4 cups sour cream 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 1/4 cup maple syrup 3 cups flour 1/2 cup pecans, ground fine 1 ¼ cups sugar 1 ½ Tablespoons baking powder 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt Glaze 1 cup powdered sugar 2 Tablespoons milk 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Invert and cool completely before removing from pan. Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over cooled cake. I also made some of my coffee cake into mini bundt cakes. We ate these in the car on the way to Stone Mountain park on Easter Sunday. If you have a great recipe that you consider to be an "oldy but goody" - send it to me. You just never know when it might show up on the blog.
Ciao! Every once in a while I watch "The Chew" in the afternoons while I'm busy cooking in my own kitchen. A couple of weeks ago, chef Mario Batali was on the show making a Timapo that looked absolutely fabulous. Maybe I was especially hungry that afternoon but it looked so good that I logged onto the show website and printed the recipe. I was shocked to see that how complicated it was because Mario made it look so simple on the show. (I guess if we all had a behind the scenes staff, we could make it look easy too.) Homemade ragu napoletano, homemade besciamella sauce, polpette alla napoletana in tomato sauce, homemade pie dough - seriously? Who has that kind of time? I still loved the concept of a pasta meal baked inside of a mixing bowl and sliced into large pie shaped wedges. I figured I could modify the recipe to make it a little easier without losing the timpano concept or any of the deliciousness. (Is that a word?) Timpano pie crust (Either homemade or store bought.) 12 meatballs 2 cups pasta sauce 2 cups white sauce 2 pounds penne, rigatoni or ziti pasta grated pecarino cheese 1/3 cup bread crumbs 2 Tablespoons butter I started by buttering a 3 quart metal mixing bowl. I sprinkled seasoned bread crumbs in the buttered bowl. Next, I made a pie crust. Roll thin.
Stir together the remaining pasta with a red pasta sauce and spoon over meatballs. (Make your own or use store brands.) I didn't have quite enough pasta to reach the top of the bowl so I added some leftover pappardelle pasta to the top. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover the top with foil and refrigerate until ready to use. (I kept mine in the frig for 2 days.) You could also freeze this timpano. Bake 1 hour and 20 minutes at 350. Remove foil from timpano and invert onto a serving platter. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. Carefully loosen the pasta around the sides with a knife and knock with your knuckles to release the bowl. Serve immediately with additional cheese. There's always a little tweeking to do the first couple of times that I make a recipe. I think next time that I make this, I will add a little more red sauce and a little more cheese to the pasta. Instead of ending up with nice neat slices of layered pastas and meatballs, I served up spoonfuls of pasta. I think the cheese and the extra sauce will help bind the pasta together a little better. All in all, I loved the flavor and it's really only the presentation that I have to tweek so I would call this first attempt a success.
Ciao! Happy Monday! I hope that you all enjoyed a nice Easter yesterday. I spent a wonderful day with family and good friends - who could ask for anything more? We started our day long before the sunrise with a trip to the top of Stone Mountain. (We missed the sunrise service but the view from the top of the mountain was spectacular.) Yesterday was an extra special day because it was Easter and it was my dad's birthday. We celebrated the occasion with a special strawberry shortcake for dessert. I had been dreaming about shortcake ever since my trip to the strawberry farm last week. The recipe is simple: great strawberries, fresh whipped cream and a simple shortcake. Strawberry Shortcake 6 cups sliced strawberries ½ cup butter ½ cup sugar 1 egg 2 cups flour 2/3 cup milk 2 teaspoons baking powder whipped cream
Bake 15-18 minutes at 450. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Slice cake into 2 layers, horizontally. Layer ½ of strawberries on top of cake and top with whipped cream. Repeat. I made the shortcake on Saturday so yesterday I sliced the berries, whipped the cream and assembled the cake. In the words of my daughter "it was REALLY good." I have to agree with her evaluation - it definitely did not disappoint. Sometimes the simplest desserts are the best. Ciao!
I have been making homemade treats to fill my family's Easter baskets for a long time. My goodies have become a staple of every Davis holiday - making it into nearly every Christmas stocking, Valentine's Day bag and Easter basket. This Easter is no exception. I used to be quite secretive about my homemade treats but becoming a food blogger has hindered my ability to surprise my family with my homemade creations. Even though there's less of an element of surprise, no one has expressed any disappointment over receiving "blogged" treats. I took my cue for this recipe from that jar of coffee shop biscotti that always looks so irresistible sitting on the counter next to the register. I can't tell you how many times I've bought one of those delectable looking, chocolate drizzled cookies only to be extremely disappointed in both the taste and the texture. This is one of my very favorite biscotti recipes and it wasn't until my most recent trip to the coffee shop that I figured out how to make it even better - dip the bottom in creamy dark chocolate and add a drizzle to the top. Voila! - biscotti that looks just as good as coffee shop biscotti but tastes a thousand times better. Almond Biscotti 1 ¾ cups flour 1 cup whole almonds 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon almond extract ¼ teaspoon salt
Turn out on to floured surface and knead 7-8 times. Divide dough into 3 equal portions and shape each into a 6” log. Place rolls 6” apart on baking sheet and pat to 1” thickness. Bake 25 minutes at 375.
I decided to dress up my biscotti for Easter so I brought out the finest dark chocolate that I had in the pantry to adorn this crunchy little cookies. I melted the chocolate in a shallow dish so that I could dip the bottoms in the bittersweet chocolate. I dipped the bottom of each biscotti into the melted chocolate and then put them on waxed paper to dry. I drizzled the leftover chocolate over the tops of the cookies. I can hardly wait until tomorrow morning to sit down and enjoy my dark chocolate dipped almond biscotti with a steaming cup of hot tea. Ahhh ... I can smell the sweet aroma of biscotti and tea already.
Ciao! |
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