Runny Yolk and Fried Sage Pizza

Who would have known?! A homemade pizza with bacon, runny egg, and sage. A true treat!


Ingredients:

• Pizza dough or crust (I used a whole wheat dough from Whole Foods -- delicious)



• Corn meal



• Pecorino or parmesan cheese (a couple handfuls) -- grated or shredded



• Pancetta or canadian bacon (a couple handfuls) -- diced



• 3 eggs



• Fresh sage



• Olive oil



• Salt and pepper

Preparation:

• Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone in the oven



• Roll-out dough



• Dust pizza stone with corn meal and place dough on stone



• Toss cheese across the dough and then top with diced bacon



• Brush edge of pizza dough with olive oil



• Bake for 4-5 minutes



• Pull pizza out of the oven just long enough to pour three eggs (not scrambled) on pizza



• Place back in oven for another 3 min or so (or until egg white is set, but yolk is still runny)



• Fry whole sage leaves in a bit of hot olive oil for a minute or so



• Top pizza with fried sage, salt and pepper

Serve immediately and only share if you have to. Enjoy!

Asparagus Salad

Holy cow -- the best salad ever! Simple, delicious, and it makes your pee-pee smell funny!

From "American Marsala," a yummy Indian cookbook:

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of medium to thick stalked asparagus


• 1 pkg cherry tomatoes, sliced lengthwise


• 3 Tbs canola oil (or other light/neutral oil)


• 2 Tbs white wine vinegar


• 1 lemon, zested and juiced


• 1/4 tsp kosher salt, plus extra for blanching


• 1/4 tsp ground peppercorns


• 8 scallions, whites only, sliced thinly diagonally

Preparation:

• Soak the asparagus in water for about an hour


• While the asparagus is soaking, bring salted water to a boil


• While the asparagus is soaking and the water is coming to a boil, make the dressing: whisk the oil and vinegar together; add lemon zest and juice, salt, pepper, and scallions


• Blanch the asparagus in boiling water for 3 - 5 minutes (trust me, you do not want to overcook the asparagus -- nice and crisp is best)


• After blanching, transfer the asparagus to an ice bath or run under ice cold water


• Slice asparagus into 1 - 1 1/2 in. diagonal slices and toss with the salad

Note: This salad does not keep as leftovers -- the lemon "cooks" the asparagus to mush. However, I like to cook extra asparagus and make extra dressing, and then just toss when you're ready to eat!

Sometime in May ... Mahi Mahi marinated in Cilantro Pesto served with Polenta and Spinach

So, this meal was inspired by Pete telling me he saw spinach polenta at Whole Foods that looked good and then figuring out a spinach polenta recipe and something to serve with it. We both loved the fish -- I did not care for the polenta, but Pete thought it rocked. The fish recipe was adopted from a yummy Indian cookbook Karen gave Pete called "American Masala" and the polenta was the creation of a number of recipes I found on-line.

Ingredients for the Fish and Marinades:

• 6 cloves of garlic, minced


• 3 tsp kosher salt


• 1 1/2 tsp pepper


• Juice of a lemon


• 4 mahi mahi fillets (about 6 oz each)


• 1 tsp ground ginger


• 1 1/2 c fresh chopped cilantro


• 2 tsp white wine vinegar


• 1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar


• 3 Tbs olive oil

Fish Preparation:

• Marinade the fish for 1-2 hours in 3 cloves of garlic, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp pepper, and the juice of the lemon.


• While the fish is marinading, make a second marinade for cooking by blending in a food processor or blender 3 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp ginger, 1 1/2 c cilantro, 2 tsp white wine vinegar, 1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar, and 3 Tbs olive oil.


• When you're ready to cook your fish, remove from the first marinade, cut 2-3 slits in the fillets, and then coat each fish with some of herb sauce.


• Cook on a grill or on a stove in a grill pan for 5 min (or so) on each side, and keep slopping on the herb marinade while you cook.

Ingredients for the polenta and spinach side dish:

• tube of pre-cooked polenta, cut into 1/4 in. rounds


• 1 large red onion, cut into thin slices


• 1 lb fresh baby spinach, chopped


• 1 Tbs oregano


• 1/2 c - 3/4 c of paremsan cheese, grated


• olive oil


• salt and pepper

Polenta preparation:

• saute the onion in olive oil and oregano until translucent (low and slow, my friends)


• remove the onion from the pan and saute the spinach until wilted


• lay the polenta in a single layer in a glass casserole dish (prep'd with Pam or olive oil), top with spinach and then the onion and then the cheese


• Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Serve:

I served the fish and polenta together and we shared a great bottle of Mondavi Chardonnary. The fish was to die for -- I didn't even want to bother with utensils, just wanted to lower my face to the plate and eat. The polenta didn't float my boat, but Pete really liked it. Go figure.

Jambalaya

"Son of a gun, well have big fun on the bayou ..."

I'm a big fan of cooking big portions, and freezing for future meals. This recipe made 4 generous meals for two. I froze 3/4 of the meal in three separate containers that we can enjoy some evening in the future when we're too tired to cook.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs shrimp (raw, shell and tails removed)


• 1 lb chicken andouille sausage links


• 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 in. bites


• 3 c brown rice


• 6 c chicken stock


• 6 - 8 celery ribs, chopped


• 2 lg or 3 sm green bell peppers, chopped


• 2 lg white onions, chopped


• 3 cloves garlic, chopped


• 1/2 c white wine


• 4 bay leaves


• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp pick-a-pepper sauce (depending on your tolerance and any problems with ulcers)


• 2 tsp salt


• olive oil

Preparation:

• I used a good stock pot for this one -- I like my Calphalon soup pot


• In a separate bowl, add chicken stock to rice and let rice start to soak


• Brown sausage and chicken in some olive oil, remove both when chicken is cooked through


• Add white wine to deglaze the pot


• Add bell pepper, celery, onion, and garlic -- saute for 5 - 10 minutes, until soft


• While veggies are cooking, cut sausage into 1/4 in. bites


• Once the veggies are soft, add chicken stock, rice, sausage, bay leaves, salt, pick-a-pepper sauce -- bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cover.


• Cook until rice is about 5 minutes from being cooked (20-30 min?), then add chicken and shrimp. Continue to cook until shrimp is cooked through.

Serve:

I'm serving the jambalaya with brussell sprouts baked in the oven with olive oil, bacon, and walnuts.

Sunday Dinner: Shrimp and Sausage Etouffee

Pete and I love Sunday night dinners. This was my first attempt at cajun cooking -- turned out amazing!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick of butter


• olive oil


• 1 lb shrimp (uncooked, shell off, tail on)


• 1 lb andouille sausage links (I used chicken andouille links from Whole Foods)


• 3/4 c all-purpose flour


• 1 medium onion


• 2 celery ribs


• 1 green bell pepper


• 4 cloves garlic


• 2 - 12 oz can/bottle of beer (one for the recipe, one for the cook)


• 4 c chicken stock


• 2 bay leaves


• 2 Tb sweet paprika


• dash cayenne (ground or sauce)


• 1 c chopped flat-leaf parsley


• diced green scallions for topping


• rice (I use brown rice)

Preparation:

• This requires slow cooking on the stove, so I used my dutch oven (tee-hee, "dutch oven" -- always makes me laugh)


• In food processor, chop/blend/pulp the onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic


• Drizzle olive oil in pot and brown andouille links in the oil


• Remove sausage after browned, add butter until melted, then stir in flour to make your roux


• Once your roux is nice and brown, add your veggies, cook for a couple minutes, then deglaze the pot with 12 oz beer


• Add chicken stock, bay leaves, paprika and cayenne. Whisk consistently to ensure mixture is well blended


• Slice sausage links to 1/4 in. - 1/2 in. slices, add to dutch oven


• Simmer for about an hour -- let it reduce considerably


• Prepare rice -- I prepared 1 1/2 c of dry rice in the rice cooker


• Remove shrimp tails and then add shrimp just five minutes before you're ready to serve


• Remove from heat and stir in parsley

Serve:

I served the etouffee over brown rice and topped with chopped scallions. I could do without the scallions -- Pete thought they were "critical' to completing the meal. Pete poured us each a Yuengling Lord Chesterfield -- perfect companion (Pete and the beer)!