Fancy Three Cheese Pizza

I love just about all kinds of pizza - mostly because I absolutely adore cheese. But sometimes I get bored of the red sauce, so I set out to create a different kind of pizza - no sauce, lots of cheese, arugula for a peppery bite and a little prosciutto so I could tell my husband the pizza had meat on it.

I didn't want to skip the sauce altogether since the sauce adds a nice moisture to pizza, but I definitely wanted to forego a traditional tomato sauce. Instead I made an herbed olive oil early in the day so that flavors had time to marry, and combined that with a ricotta cheese to create a ooey-gooey, creamy cheesy sauce layer. It was reminiscent of an alfredo sauce pizza but a lot healthier - no cream or butter, and I actually used low-fat ricotta too.

A slice (or two of this pizza) and a glass of wine = heaven!

{the pizza}

{Finley approves! Please pardon her post-nap hair and I'm not sure why she's making a kissy face - but it's pretty darn cute!}

Fancy Three Cheese Pizza

a Baking and Eggs original

for the herb oil

4 T olive oil

2 cloves garlic

a pinch of red pepper flakes (or more if you want it spicier)

2 T assorted fresh herbs, chopped (I used rosemary, basil, parsley and lemon thyme)

for the pizza

fresh pizza dough

2/3 c ricotta cheese (I used low-fat)

7-8 oz good quality mozzarella cheese

1/2 c grated or shredded parmesan cheese

4 thin slices prosciutto, chopped

2 c arugula

1/2 lemon

sea salt

Early in the day or even the night before, make the herb oil. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes and assorted fresh herbs. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the herbs are fragrant, about 3-4 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic. Let cool and keep covered in the refrigerator. Let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes prior to using it.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a greased pizza sheet, stretch dough out. Brush dough with about 1 T of the herb oil. Bake until crust just starts to turn a light golden color, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl reserve 1 t of the herb oil. Combine the remaining herb oil and ricotta cheese in another bowl and stir well. Spread ricotta mixture over crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border along the edges. Sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan cheeses over ricotta and bake another 10-12 minutes, or until cheese is melted and starts to brown in spots.

Remove pizza from oven and sprinkle with prosciutto. Cut into slices. In a bowl, toss arugula with remaining 1 t herb oil, juice from 1/2 a lemon and a sprinkle of sea salt. Scatter dressed arugula over pizza and serve.

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Sesame Chicken

Have you heard the phrase Take-Out Fake Out? Because this recipe definitely falls into that category. In a blind taste test I really don't think I would have been able to tell which dish came from my kitchen and which one came from my favorite Chinese restaurant. Seriously.

I loved the breading recipe for the chicken and the chicken came out so tender. The sauce was great - in fact, I just took a quick break from writing this post so I could go eat some of the left-overs :-) So next time you don't want to get take-out, make it at home!

Sesame Chicken

adapted from AllRecipes.com

for the chicken

2 T flour

2 T cornstarch

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t baking powder

2 T low-sodium soy sauce

1 T dry sherry

2 T water

1 t vegetable oil

1 dash sesame oil

1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size chunks

for the sauce

1 c chicken broth

1/4-1/2 c brown sugar (depending how sweet you like your sauce)

1 T rice wine vinegar

2 T dark soy sauce

2 T sesame oil

1/4-1 t garlic chile paste (depending how spicy you like it)

1 clove garlic, minced

2 T cornstarch

1/4 c water

1 quart oil for frying

2 T toasted sesame seeds, divided

2 green onions, sliced

In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and baking powder. Add soy sauce, sherry, water, vegetable oil, and sesame oil and stir until smooth. Stir in chicken to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring chicken broth, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic chile paste, and garlic to a boil in a small saucepan. In a small bowl, stir together cornstarch and water. Lower heat on the sauce and add the cornstarch mixture to the sauce. Stir well and let simmer to thicken the sauce. Stir in 1 T sesame seeds. Keep warm.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until it reaches 375 degrees. Drop in the battered chicken pieces, a few at a time. Cook each batch 2-4 minutes (depending on the size of your chicken pieces) or until they float to the top and turn golden brown. Let drain on paper towels. Just before serving, toss chicken pieces with sauce and garnish with remaining sesame seeds and green onions.

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Meal Plan - June 26th thru July 2nd

Finally our house renovations are finished and everything is pretty much back in order - and I'm back in the kitchen and catching up on the blog. Whew! I must say it was pretty nice to stay with my parents though - they cooked us meals, took care of Finley and planned fun things for us to do. So thanks Mom & Dad for putting us up and for putting up with us!

Though much of the work is already done, we're still trying to organize some areas of the house, so I've planned some pretty easy/simple/few ingredient meals for this week. Here's what is on the menu:

1.) Grilled Kielbasa and Pierogies, Salad

2.) Arugula, Chicken and Rice Salad

3.) Three Cheese Pizza Topped with Prosciutto and Arugula

4.) Austin Mac N Cheese Suiza, Sliced Avocado and Tomato Salad

5.) Sesame Chicken, Rice, Roasted Broccoli

For a snack/dessert: Citrus-Glazed Pound Cake

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Middle Eastern Pizza

I'm sure I'm not the only one watching The Next Food Network Star, right? Two weeks ago Penny (the Middle Eastern mama) made this pizza for one of their challenges. Now while I don't really agree with Penny's aggressive tactics on the show, I still wanted to give her recipe a try. You see my parents spent nine years living in the Middle East and as a consequence, we ate a lot of Middle Eastern food growing up. We ate hummus, couscous, tabbouleh, pita bread, falafel, and baba ghanoush way before it was cool/trendy to do so. I remember in high school wanting to hang out at my friend Jennie's house because her pantry was always stocked with normal things - goldfish, cookies, chips, etc. and she always wanted to come eat dinner at my house because we usually offered more unique fare.

Anyway, back to the pizza. I made this while we were staying with my parents. I must say, this pizza was a little more labor intensive than I usually like my pizza recipes to be, but it was a killer pizza. Definitely not your usual hum-drum pizza, that's for sure! And I almost felt healthy eating it since it had lots of veggies on it.

The recipe makes a lot of sauce and toppings - enough for two pizzas, even though the recipe only says it makes one pizza. I ended up using the leftover sauce and toppings over pasta for lunch and that was great too.

Middle Eastern Pizza

adapted from Penny Davidi as found in The Food Network magazine

for the sauce

2 T olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lemon, zested

1/4 t ground coriander

2 14.5-oz cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes

2-3 T tomato paste

salt and pepper

for the pizza

1 lb prepared pizza dough

5 T olive oil, divided

1 medium eggplant, diced

1 t roasted cumin

1 large red onion, thinly sliced

8 oz fresh buffalo mozzarella

1/4 c kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

1/2 c sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped

3/4 c feta cheese, crumbled

fresh mint, torn, for garnish

For the sauce: Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic, lemon zest, ground coriander and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add diced tomatoes and cook about 20 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook another 5 minutes, or until thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Let cool.

For the pizza: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Drizzle a little olive oil on a baking sheet and stretch dough to roughly fit the pan. Brush dough with a little more olive oil and bake until just barely golden, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 2 T olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the eggplant and cumin, season with salt and pepper, and cook until eggplant is tender, 10 to 12 minutes.

In another skillet, heat 1 T olive oil over medium heat. Add red onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, about 15 minutes.

Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees. Top the crust with 1 c of sauce, the mozzarella, eggplant, caramelized onion, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and feta. Return to oven and cook until the cheese melts and the crust is golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Generously top pizza with mint, slice into pieces and serve.

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Bourbon Glazed Pork Chops

{oops - I forgot to take a picture before I started eating!}

While I've always loved pork tenderloin, I've never had much luck with pork chops. The few times I've had them, they've always been tough and chewy. I remember one meal that I made for Andrew just a few months after we were married (pan-fried pork chops with onions and apples) that was so bad we didn't even eat it. After one bite, he looked at me and asked if we could go out to eat. After my first bite, I agreed and we headed to Houston's for a nice, tasty dinner.

As I've gotten more comfortable in the kitchen, I realized that brining the chops is an essential step to ensure tender, moist meat. I also realized that part of the problem was that I was buying the thinly sliced, boneless pork chops. A week or two ago, I was watching Paula Deen on the Food Network and she made these pork chops and served them with the Stuffed Tomatoes. The whole meal looked delicious so I decided it was time to jump back in the saddle again and try to conquer pork chops! These were the first pork chops I've made that I actually want to make again. The meat was juicy and had a great natural flavor that was enhanced by the basting sauce. I actually used boneless pork chops but they were good and thick - about an inch or more. Paula's recipe didn't include brining but I didn't want to take any chances and fail again at cooking pork chops!

Bourbon Glazed Pork Chops

adapted from Paula Deen

for the brine

water

2 T kosher salt

1 T sugar

freshly ground black pepper

for the meat

6 thick center-cut pork chops (you can choose between bone-in or boneless)

4 T dijon mustard

2 t brown sugar

1 t molasses

2 T bourbon

salt and pepper

Fill a very large bowl with warm water. Add salt, sugar and pepper and stir well until salt and sugar have mostly dissolved. Add pork chops, cover and refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours.

In a small bowl, combine mustard, brown sugar, molasses, and bourbon. Stir well. Divide sauce into two bowls, one for use on raw meat and one for use on cooked meat.

Prepare a medium-hot grill.

Remove pork chops from their brining liquid and rinse under running water. Pat dry with paper towels and season generously with salt and pepper. Brush both sides liberally with the basting sauce. Place pork chops on grill and grill until chops are slightly charred and cooked, about 15-20 minutes depending on their thickness.

Brush pork chops with remaining sauce and serve.

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Stuffed Tomatoes

OMG, these were soooo good! While the pork chops were mighty tasty, the tomatoes stole the show. The bacon, the cheese, the crushed crackers, the green onions and the tomatoes united to become one of the greatest side dishes of all time. We all loved it and everyone had seconds! I will definitely make these again. And soon!

Stuffed Tomatoes
adapted from Paula Dean

5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled with bacon fat reserved
3 oz bleu cheese, crumbled
4 green onions, sliced
1/2 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crushed
2 T butter, melted
4 roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise
salt & pepper, to taste

In a bowl, mix together the bacon, cheese, green onions, and cracker crumbs. Stir in the melted butter and 2 tablespoons reserved bacon fat.

Salt and pepper the tomato halves. Top each tomato half with 1/8th of the cracker mixture. Broil about 7 minutes or until the crumb topping is golden brown.

serves 4

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Meal Plan - June 20th - June 26th

Currently chaos rains at our house, so we packed up and headed to my parents house to stay for a few days until the new floors are installed. I haven't been cooking too much this weekend since my lovely mom has been doing most of the meals. While I can't wait to be back in my own home, it's always nice to be with family. Anyway, here's a quick run-down of the meals that I hope (!!!) to make this week. Enjoy!

1.) Spaghetti Carbonara; Grilled Romaine Salad; Garlic Bread

2.) Middle Eastern Pizza

3.) Bourbon Glazed Pork Chops; Stuffed Tomatoes; Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

4.) Spaghetti with Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce; Roasted Lemon Broccoli

5.) Chicken Enchiladas; Avocado Salad

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