Category — Recipes

If you’ve been looking at restaurant menus for the past year or so, you’ve noticed that chefs are putting eggs on top of just about everything. Poached or fried eggs on top of pasta, salads, and pizzas. The egg is the world’s most perfect food, it is economical and a great way to add protein and richness to just about anything. So take a crack at this current trend at the most natural time of day, for breakfast or brunch, but with an unconventional twist, breakfast pizza!

Small eggs work best if you’re making large pizzas to slice into wedges. The challenge – small eggs can be difficult to find. Try your local Asian market because most mainstream grocery stores only carry extra-large, large, and if you’re lucky, medium eggs. If you go with the medium eggs, remove about half of the whites before placing them on the pizza, or the eggs will overflow and make a mess of the oven.  Or, divide the dough into 8 portions and make individual pizzas, then you can use the entire medium egg. You won’t get the same bang for your buck though, since you’ll get two large pizzas, or 16 servings if you follow the recipe as written. And the look of the large pizza is much more impressive than the individual, as you can see for yourself in these photos.

Side note: Almost forgot to mention – watch me at 4:30 PM on Channel 12 (NBC) Valley Dish tomorrow with Tram Mai.

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When I went out of the garden to pick the mint needed for this recipe, I found this very welcome and sweet little guest, funny how simple joys can just make your day! My goal for the past month or two has been to cook with lemons every day.  I know you’re probably sick of hearing about how many lemons I have, but believe me, I’m more tired of trying to use/get rid of them!  I took about 50 pounds to cook class last night and plan to do the same tomorrow night when I begin my 3-week series at Les Gourmettes. Just the thought of all of them is wearing me out… the solution? Tonight, I’m going to fire up the Jacuzzi and make cocktails using up several lemons, that will get me geared up to keep going! This is a great cocktail if you have a little leftover champagne or as in my case, you have a split lying around unused. I’m using Absolute Citron, but any unflavored or citrus-flavored vodka is fine. If you’re not lemon-rich, buy lemon sorbet at the grocery store and you’re all set.

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I picked my first artichokes of the season today! Plus another 40 or 50 pounds of lemons! Really, someday, I will have picked that lemon tree clean… but not for a while. Only two artichokes were ready, so this recipe is for two, it can easily be doubled or tripled, no matter how many more artichokes you add.  But only go up to 1 1/2 cups of water to cook them in and no more than about 5 tablespoons olive oil.  When increasing recipes, know that not all ingredients increase in equal increments.  For instance, even if you double or triple the onion/garlic/thyme/fennel portions, you still will only need about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to sauté them in… that make sense?

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(Disclaimer: So I’ve already had a few people (whom I dearly love!) call or email to advise that I do not know how to spell all right... I do indeed know how to spell it correctly, but I’m going with the thought I had when I wrote the title for this post -which was Elton John’s hit, “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” … and if Elton spells it that way – it’s just fine and more than alright with me!)

After a long day of company picnicking, errands, and cleaning – a quick dinner was in order for Saturday night. I’ve used pomegranate molasses several times before, so just click on that ingredient and it will take you to the easy recipe. Pom molasses is a valuable ingredient to have on hand. It gives a great big punch to everything from chicken, lamb, beef, and fish to your run of the mill – ho-hum vegetable dishes.

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While our family was in Italy during the summer of 2008, I had Asparagus with Prosciutto di Parma, Parmegiano Reggiano, and Poached Eggs. The dish is a common sight on Italian menus.

I’ve taken quite a few liberties, basically Americanizing and bastardizing it at the same time! The inspiration to do so came after a cooking class on Monday night with Chef Chris Curtiss of Noca, who made these outstanding fried poached eggs and served them on top of a fabulous salad with pickled red onions, bacon, and red wine vinaigrette – truly amazing!

I often serve the asparagus as a side dish and it has already been featured on this site, but this is a wonderful light, refreshing, and satisfying main dish for any night of the week. Of course, it would also make a great brunch dish.

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For the past year, I’ve been providing 2 dozen cookies a month to the winner of an auction item I donated to a local charity.  This is my last delivery of the year and these cookies are real winners.  I have a thing for malted milk balls, Whoppers, as it were. They have long been one of my all-time favorite candies. I’m sure my mistreated baby sister, Sloane, could tell some awful stories about my mean-younger self, involving Whoppers… I’ll just leave it at that. I dearly love you, Sloane and I am truly sorry for that very mean big sister whom you had to put up with, when we shared a bedroom, all those years ago… please forgive me! xoxo

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Hey, it is time to take your jar with the first stage of limoncello out of the dark cool place you have been hiding it. You don’t know what in the world I’m talking about?  Then you must have missed the March 8th post that gave you the first step to making your own limoncello. Of course, you can still do it, just go back to the beginning, do step one, and mark your calendar accordingly. But if you were following along, you are ready to proceed.

CLICK HERE for Step 1

CLICK HERE for Step 3

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On Saturday, I was at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market conducting a class for kids at the market. The class came about when I was contacted by a group of ASU students who are in a program planning class. Their assignment was to put on a community event, and they chose to teach kids about the importance of locally grown foods and organize a cooking class. They were so well organized and put together a great event. I want to extend a big congratulations to each of them; KC, Megan, Britany, Daniel, Ryan, Mary, and Jessi.

Plus KC made the most adorable visual aid for her presentation, I just had to include it here!

And the kids who participated were so attentive and excited to participate. Sadly, I didn’t get all of their names committed to memory; but to all of you, including Matthew, Ava, Brenden, Leanna, and Bekah – thanks for coming, and keep on cooking!

We made a roasted vegetable dish and a berry smoothie. Since we didn’t have access to an oven, I roasted a batch of the vegetables ahead of time. At the market, the kids sliced and prepared a second batch of the veggies, and I brought those home to roast and used them to create this soup. When the vegetables are pureed, they go from all their various lovely colors to a drab old brown. Not very appealing in color – but they taste – fantastic! It helped to hold back a few bits of the veggies to dice as garnish and my finished soup would have even been a little brighter if I had remembered to garnish with some cilantro, so be sure and remember for yourself!  The brioche croutons are a wonderful added flavor – and on their own – they are downright addictive.

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This morning, I’m off to the Downtown Phoenix Public Market using the market’s fresh fruits and vegetables to teach a class for kids.  I’ve just enough time to put up this tasty twist on coleslaw before I dash out the door.  If you haven’t been to the DPP Market yet, you really need to take a break and go, check out the details HERE.  Have a happy Saturday!

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One of my favorite songs by The Killers is All These Things That I’ve Done. The chorus, “I’ve got soul, but I’m not a soldier” is my favorite part and was used in a Nike advertisement during the last summer Olympics. Hence the title:  I’ve got sole.  My niece, Raina, had a post on her Facebook page, right before Easter, that totally cracked me up…  “I’ve got ham, but I’m not a hamster.”  I really did laugh out loud at that one!

I was the lucky and happy recipient of an “over-purchase” of fresh fillet of sole and banana leaves after Wednesday night’s cooking class at Les Gourmettes. That meant that Thursday’s dinner was on the table in less than 10 minutes! Fresh banana leaves are available at Asian markets, and are very inexpensive, give them a try!  The leaves tear easily, so it is important to quickly pass them over an open flame to make them more pliable and easier to handle. The exposure to heat brightens them and releases the leaf’s natural oils and fragrance. When steamed, the leaves tend to lose their vibrant green color and turn a darker shade of olive green. Click here to make the chipotle mayonnaise, if you don’t already have some on hand.

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