The First Panini

Yes we have a panini grill. I made a frittatta, of course... The frittatta had zucchini, yellow squash, sweet potatoes, onions and proscuitto. We each made our own paninis.

I had Scamorza cheese on mine. It was good.

Polenta, Sausage & Mozzeralla

This dish is a variation of a recipe I found online years ago. It is quite easy.

1 pound of sausage
1 pound mozzarella, sliced
1 jar marinara sauce, or homemade if you have it.
polenta, recipe is below

Take a pound of sausage, pork or turkey or what ever you prefer and chop it up and brown it in a saute pan. Next make your polenta. I follow the recipe from From Biba's Italian Kitchen.

Ingredients -
4 1/2 cups water
1 tbsp salt
1 cup coarsely ground cornmeal
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Bring the water to a boil in a medium-size heavy pot over medium heat. Add the salt and reduce the heat to medium low. As soon as the water begins to simmer, start pouring in the cornmeal by the handful in a thin stream, very slowly, and stir constantly with a long wooden spoon to prevent lumps from forming. When all the cornmeal has been incorporated, you can relax, but keep the water at a steady, low simmer and stir cornmeal frequently. (It is not necessary to stir constantly if the polenta is cooked gently.) Cook the polenta 25 to 30 minutes. As it cooks, the polenta will thicken considerably, and it will bubble and spit back at you. Keep stirring, crushing any lumps that form against the side of the pot. The polenta is cooked when it comes away effortlessly from the sides of the pan. Stir in cheese.

To assemble -
Grease a glass loaf pan and layer polenta, sauce, sausage and fresh mozzeralla cheese repeat this one more time and topping with sauce and cheese.
Bake 350 30 minutes.

Of course you need a glass of red wine with this.

Spicy Split Pea Soup

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Fair Earth Bazaar at the Mercy Center in Madison. One of the things I picked up was Split Pea Soup Mix. I was getting ready to make the soup this weekend and noticed the second item listed on the spice pack was garlic powder. There were only 4 other ingredients in the pack so I figured there had to be probably more garlic in there than I would care for. So I went to my spice cabinet and pulled out all the other listed ingredients and added them. Curry, Coriander and crushed red pepper. Then I prepared the soup according to the package.

1 package of Split Peas, about 13 oz.
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups of water
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup diced onion
2 tsp. curry
1 tsp. coriander
1/4 crushed red pepper
Salt to taste

Wash and drain peas. Add peas to chicken broth and water. Simmer uncovered 1 hour. Saute onions in butter until onions are translucent. Add spices. Simmer for 20 minutes more and serve. We added some bacon to the soup but it really would have been okay without it.

Also started the No-Knead Bread on Sunday and baked it last night. Perfect.

Chicken Parmesan

Simple comfort food. Cut the chicken breasts into scallopines and dipped them in egg and then panko bread crumb seasoned with salt, pepper, oregano and Parmesan cheese. Heated olive oil and browned breasts on both sides. Place breasts in baking pan and top with marinara sauce and a slice of fresh mozz cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Puff Pastry Tart with Sweet Potato, Pancetta and Scamorza

Again visited food52.com. When I made the Tuscan Onion Confit I noticed a comment left by someone saying they used the confit with puff pastry. I had all the ingredients for that recipe except for the Scamorza.

As it turned out we were not fans of the Confit so I made the Pastry Tart with Sweet Potato, Pancetta and Scamorza. Now I had never used Scamorza before. What it is is a dried mozzeralla cheese. It tasted just like the kind of mozz cheese they sell in the dairy case. It actually was creamier than the dairy case cheese, just a lot drier than the fresh mozz.

Anyway, this was quite a good dish. There are no leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

I also made a soup of just chicken broth and the Roasted Chicken Purses I had in the freezer. It reminded me of the cupalets, not sure of the spelling on that, that my sister Lenore makes for Christmas dinner. That is my favorite Christmas dish.

Pork Tenderloin with Ginger Cider Sauce

I found a new foodie site, Food52.com. Once there I found a recipe for Pork Tenderloin with Ginger Cider Sauce. The recipe was easy to follow and the results were great.

Here is the recipe but I suggest you visit Food52.com.
This recipe serves 4.

1.5 pounds pork tenderloin (2 tenderloins)
1 inch knob of ginger, grated
1 to 1-1/2 cup apple cider
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Remove the silver skin from the pork and sprinkle on all sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
2. In a large cast-iron skillet, heat 2 tablespoons cooking oil over high heat. Add the pork tenderloins and brown on both sides.
3. Transfer the skillet to the oven. (If you don't have an oven-proof skillet, transfer the pork to a baking dish. Don't wash out the skillet though, you will need it later for the sauce.)
4. Bake the pork until a meat thermometer registers 140 F. (For me this is about 12-15 minutes normally.) Take the pork out of the oven and transfer to a cutting board to rest.
5. Pour off any of the juice from the skillet (or baking dish) into a measuring cup. Add enough apple cider to make 1-1/2 cups of liquid.
6. Set the skillet over medium heat. Add a few drops of oil, then the ginger. Scrape the browned bits from the pan.
7. When the ginger becomes fragrant, pour in the liquid and increase the heat to medium-high. Continue scraping the browned bits and bring the mixture to a simmer. Continue simmering to reduce the liquid by half.
8. When the liquid has thickened, add salt and pepper to taste. Add the lemon juice. Remove from heat and swirl in 2 tablespoons of butter.
9. Slice the pork and transfer to a serving dish. Pour the sauce over it.

With the pork I served Roasted Butternut Squash and Couscous. We had that Onion Confit as a side dish... We were not nuts about it. I think it may have been the raisins. Not sure but there was something that neither of us were crazy about.

Pearl Onions & Vodka Cream Sauce with Penne

So I had some of the Pearl Onions left over from the Tuscan Onion Confit that did not make it to the Thanksgiving table. The bag of onions came with this recipe.

2 tbsp. Olive Oil
1 pkg. of Pearl Onion (10 oz.)
1 16 oz. can chopped tomatoes with liquid
1/2 cup vodka
1 cup Cream (or half and half)
1 pound Penne Pasta
Salt and Pepper to taste

Peel and chop the onions. Heat olive oil and saute onion over low heat. When onions are translucent, add tomatoes and cook to reduce liquid, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add vodka and stir, then add cream. Let simmer for about 5 minutes, then mix in cooked pasta and serve.

Quite tasty!