Ground Turkey Pizza

I just love pizza.  It's such a great meal and everyone loves it.  I was watching Giada the other day on the food network and decided to change a couple of things about how I make pizza.  I traditionally par-cook the dough and then add the topping cooking at 475 degrees on a pizza stone.  Giada cooks her pizza at a lower temperature and for longer.  I turned down the heat to 425 degrees and cooked the pizza for 30 minutes.  It came out really good.  Doesn't it look delicious?

Here is how I made the pizza.  I bought the dough already made.  I know, I cheated a little.  Let the dough get to room temperature.  It is much more pliable and easy to work with when it is room temp.  I like to put a little olive oil on the pizza pan.  It makes it easy to spread the dough around the pan.  I use my hands with a little olive oil on the dough, too.

The easiest pizza sauce, and the most flavorful, is tomato paste!  Evenly spread it around the dough.

The Topping:
1 lbs Ground Turkey
2 Cups Grated Cheese
1/2 lbs thinly sliced Mushrooms
1 Heaping Tbs of Chopped Fresh Parsley
1 Heaping Tbs of Chopped Fresh Basil

You will need one pound of ground turkey.  In a saute pan over medium heat cook the ground turkey breaking it up as you cook it.  Let it brown a little  and set aside letting the oils drain off.  Let the ground turkey cool and add about two cups of grated cheese.  (Use more or less to your personal taste.  If you like a lot of cheese then add more.) Thinly slice button mushroom.  Add the mushrooms, parley and basil to the ground turkey and mix well.  Pour over the dough covered with tomato paste.

Put in the preheated oven at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until the cheese on top starts to brown.  Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before cutting into it.  Enjoy!!!

Corn Souffle

This is a pleaser.  It looks very impressive and tastes amazing.  It's actually pretty easy and there is not much to it.  Some corn, milk, flour and eggs.

Ingredients:


1 Tbs of Unsalted Butter (If you use sallted butter it will be too salty)
2 Tbs of Flour
1 Cup of Milk
2 Eggs, Separated
2 Cups of Corn (Frozen is good, Fresh is much better)
3/4 tsp of Salt
1/4 tsp of Pepper

Butter a 1 1/2 quart souffle dish or casserole dish.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour.  Whisk constantly over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes.  Slowly whisk in the milk.  Once the milk has been added then continue whisking and cooking for 2 to 3 minutes more.  Remove from the heat and whisk the egg yoke in a bowl.  Slowly add the milk and flour mixture to the egg and return to the saucepan and heat for 1 to 2 minutes over the medium heat and then remove from the heat.  Pour into a large mixing bowl and add the corn, salt and pepper.

Whip the egg white till firm but not dry.  Gently stir in about 1/4 of the egg whites into the remaining ingredients that are set aside.  Once it is integrated gently fold the remaining egg whites into the mixture. Pour or spoon into the souffle dish and bake for 30-40 minutes until the top is lightly brown.  Serve immediately.  Yum!
Enjoy!

Saffron Sausage Seafood Soup

I've been thinking about Manhattan clam chowder lately.  This is not a chowder because there are no potatoes.  Can you believe I didn't have any potatoes at home.  The things you run out of.  I didn't want to go to the store so I started looking around to see what I had.  I wanted to make a red seeafood soup of some kind and I wanted to use my new 12 quart All Clad stockpot.  It's such a beautiful pot.  I got it as a birthday gift from casa de Shing.  This is what came out of it and it is so good or as my friend Ingrid would say, "It's Delicious!"

Ingredients:
4-5 Links of Sweet Italian Sausage
3/4 Pound of Tail on Shrimp (the tail on adds the bisque flavor to the broth)
2 Small fillets of White Fish
32 Oz Container of Chicken Broth
2 Cups of White Wine
29 Oz Can of Diced Tomatoes with juice
1 Cup each of Chopped Onion, Celery and Carrot
1 Cup of a Mix of Chopped Red, Yellow and Green Pepper
6 Cups of Water
1 Cup of Pasta
1 tsp of Saffron
1 Tbs of Chopped Parsley
1 Tbs of Old Bay Seasoning
2 Bay Leaves
Salt and Pepper to taste

Start by removing the casing from the sausage and brown in the stockpot.  Remove the sausage and set aside.  Saute the Onion, Celery, Carrots and Peppers in the oils from the sausage.  While the vegetables are cooking over medium heat add the seasons, bay leaves and parsley.  Cook until the vegetables are soft.  The vegetable should be just starting to caramelize and brown.  Pour the wine into the pot to deglaze the pot are bring up the flavor from the bottom.  Add the tomatoes, water and sausage .  Bring to a boil and add the pasta.  When the pasta is el dente add the white fish and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the shrimp and cook for about 2-3 minutes more.  Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Enjoy!!!!!

Easy Cole Slaw

Cole Slaw is very easy to make and tasty.  It's a great compliment to BBQ'd meats.  It really balances out the rich taste of BBQ'd meats.  This is all you need.

Ingredients:
2 Cups each of Shredded Red and Regular Cabbage, Grated Carrots

Dressing:
1/3 Cup of Red Wine Vinegar
1/4 Cup of Sugar
1 Tbs of Dijon Mustard
1/3 Cup Olive Oil
1 tsp of Celery Seeds
Salt and Pepper to taste

Place the cabbage and carrots in a large bowl.  Whisk together all the dressing ingredients together and pour over the cabbage and carrots.  Toss and serve.  How easy was that?!
Enjoy!!!

Small Artisan Rolls

So easy to make and there is nothing like flesh baked rolls by themselves or used at buns for delicious things like pulled pork or chicken or slider buns!  Here is how to make them.

Ingredients:

3 Cups of Bread Flour

1 1/4 tsp of Salt

1/4 tsp of Dry Active Yeast

1 1/3 Cup of Cold Water

Mix all the ingredients together until a sticky dough forms.  Cover and let sit for 12 to 16 hours.  The dough will be double in size.  Turn out onto a floured surface and fold it over twice and form a ball.  Place on a floured towel and cover with the ends.  Let is raise for 2 hours.  One half hour before the second rise preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide the dough in half.  Roll to form two long logs of dough.  Cut each into 6 pieces with a block knife and place on an oiled cookie sheet.  Place in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 30 - 35 minutes.  Remove from the oven and serve.   Enjoy!!!!  They make anything that you serve on them better.  From scratch is always better!!!!

Bacon Wrapped Beef Sliders

I love having small bites to eat at a party.  You can taste a little bit of everything that way.  I was making little beef sliders and glanced over at the bacon I still had left over for the baked beans.  Then the thought crossed my mind.  How about a bacon wrapped slider.  It was a stroke of genius!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Lbs of Lean Ground Beef

1 Rounded Tbs of Dijon Mustard

1 Tbs of Worcestershire Sauce

1 Large Egg

Salt and Pepper

Mix everything together in a large bowl.  Form small little meat patties no larger than about 2 1/2 inches. Cut the stripe of bacon in half.  Wrap the bacon around the patty and then, like a cross, wrap the other strip of bacon around the patty.  Press the patty flat to secure the bacon to the patty.  Heat up a griddle with a little oil and grill till well browned on each side.  They are delicious!!!!!  Serve on a small artisan rolls.  Enjoy!!!!

Don't worry if you run short of bacon.  They are delicious without and believe it or not some people don't like bacon.  I know!

BBQ Pulled Chicken

Just a little spread for some friends.  Tonights menu includes pulled BBQ Chicken, bacon wrapped beef sliders,  giant lima baked beans with bacon, cole slaw, sweet potato fries, artisan slide rolls and carmel sauce flan for dessert.

I have to say that it was all delicious!  I will go through the preparation of everything for you.

The pulled chicken is a slow cooker friendly dish.  It's so easy.  All you have to do is add all the ingredients and let it cook all-day-long while you are preparing everything else.

Here the the recipe for the pulled chicken.

Ingredients:
3 Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 Medium Yellow Onion

Sauce:
1 Cup Ketchup
2 Tbs of Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tbs of Molasses
1 Tbs of Dijon Mustard
1/4 tsp of Ground Pepper
1 1/2 tsp of Onion powder
1/4 tsp of Ground Cumin
1/2 tsp of Tobasco
pinch of salt

Cut the onion in half and then slice thinly into half rings and spread them on the bottom of the slow cooker.  Arrange the chicken on top of the onions.  Whisk together all the sauce ingredients together and pour over the top of the chicken.  Set the slow cooker on low and cook for at least 6 hours.  When done break the chicken apart and mix together with the sauce and the onions.  The onions will be soft and easily mix in with the chicken.  This is great served on small artisan rolls.  The recipe for the buns will follow after we talk about the bacon wrapped sliders.  Yum!!!!