Savory Springtime Tart with Ham and Asparagus

I originally made this tart months ago on a day when I apparently was not “all there”. Not unlike like the day I asked Brent how I could thicken up pasta sauce. The answer of course is tomato paste but I was having a blonde moment.

Well, maybe I should say a “brown out” since I’m a brunette.

When I made this recipe originally it was fantastic and we both loved it. There was one minor glitch however. When I decided to make this for dinner, the store didn’t have gruyere. (Big FAIL to you Mr. Grocery Store.) I was NOT in the mood to try another store, so I went to the deli and asked them to slice me the amount I needed. I found out later that gruyere from the deli doesn’t melt all that nicely. So instead of a nice cheesy, melty layer of gruyere…this had little thin sticks of gruyere. Brent said he liked it like this, but I was bummed for several reasons and even though I kept the pictures, I never posted it.

I decided to make it again since Easter is this weekend, and I think it would be an absolutely fantastic way to use up leftover ham. I made a few adjustments from my first attempt and I think it was for the better. This recipe has ham, asparagus, gruyere cheese, caramelized onions, and a Dijon béchamel sauce. It is the perfect storm of yummy goodness.



Savory Springtime Tart
*Serves 4-6 as an appetizer
(printable version)

What you need:
- 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
- ½ medium onion, diced
- 3 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 scant tablespoon flour, plus additional for dusting
- 1 cup milk
- couple of dashes ground nutmeg
- 2.5 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- ¾ cup ham, cubed small
- 6-8 medium asparagus spears
- 4 oz gruyere cheese, shredded
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Helpful item: Parchment paper

How to do it:

1 – In a medium sauté pan add 2 tablespoons of butter and diced onion. Sauté over medium low heat, keeping pan covered when not stirring occasionally. Cook until onions are caramelized, about 25 minutes. Click here for more detailed instructions on caramelizing onions.

2- While onions are cooking, take asparagus spears and trim the ends. (To find out where to trim, take a few and “snap” them by bending. They will naturally break where you will want to cut.) Next slice them thin and on a bias. Set aside.

Spinach and Prosciutto Lasagna

Life has been crazy busy lately. You would think this is a good thing, but all I can think about is how Thanksgiving is right around the corner and then its nonstop chaos until 2011 arrives. Three weeks ago was Brent’s birthday, two weeks ago my dad was in town, and last week we went out of town for a lovely little vacation. And now the next week or so will be trying to catch up with life and focus on checking off about 167 things off my 500+ to do list. I’m ok with that, I love checking things off my TDL.
Back to the food.

I made this dish for dinner while my dad was in town. During his stay I didn’t want anything that took too much time away from chatting over a couple of cups of coffee with him. It’s actually my version of a Giada DeLaurentiis dish that I saw her make many years ago. So many in fact that this was the first meal I ever made for Brent (which I forgot actually), but he kindly reminded me of this as he ate it.

Spinach and Prosciutto Lasagna Rolls

Adapted from Giada

*Serves 4

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:- 1 10oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed
- 2 1/4 cups ricotta
- 1/5 lb prosciutto, sliced and diced
- ¼ cup parmesan
- 2 cups mozzarella, divided
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 cups of your favorite red marinara sauce
- 1 cup alfredo sauce
- 10 lasagna noodles ( maybe throw one or two extra in case one rips)

Directions:

1. Cook lasagna noodles according to package and drain when done. Separate noodles and lay flat to cool.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Shrimp with a Chipotle Bourbon BBQ Glaze

I wish there was a shorter name for this. Good gravy.


This recipe is adapted from one I found in my BHG cookbook a while back. I remember it clearly as a Sunday night and I wanted something new and different for dinner. I have a lot of cookbooks and I rarely look at them, but this night I happened to turn to them for some inspiration. I’ve made these several times since that night and have tweaked the recipe along the way. I think I’ve finally gotten it to where I’m extremely happy with the results. These are sweet, slightly salty, and have a bit of heat to them. What more could you ask for?

Prosciutto-Wrapped Shrimp with a Chipotle Bourbon BBQ Glaze

*Makes two dozen shrimp

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

- 2 dozen large shrimp, shells removed

- 8 slices of prosciutto, sliced thicker than normal

- 1 ½ cups bourbon BBQ sauce (I used Jack Daniel’s No 7)

- 2 chipotle in adobo peppers
- 1 teaspoon bourbon (optional)
- Scallions for garnish (optional)

- Salt and pepper

*Skewers would be helpful. Soak wood skewers in water for 30 minutes before using.

Directions:

1. Combine chipotles and BBQ sauce in a blender, food processor, or your magic bullet that someone convinced you to buy 8 years ago.

2. Remove sauce and divide in half. Add the bourbon to one half and stir together. This is your basting sauce. Use the non-liquored up BBQ for dipping.

3. Clean shrimp and remove shells. (You can leave tails on if you choose to.) Pat dry and season with salt and pepper.

4. Slice the prosciutto into 3 long strips.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

This dish is one of my mom’s. While it seems humble and incredibly simple, I have yet to meet a person who doesn’t fall in love with it and go back for seconds. I grew up eating this dish which is my mother’s version of a traditional Chicken Cordon Bleu. There is something so comforting about going to her house and eating her cooking again. My mother has always been able to hold her own in the kitchen.

I will alternate between her version and mine, which is more traditional. My mother’s is great for a crowd because there is less prep work.

Mom’s Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

*Serves 4-6

(print the recipe)

Ingredients:

- 2 pounds chicken (4-5 breasts)

- ½ pound of ham, sliced thin

- ½ pound American Cheese, sliced thin

- 1 box Shake ‘n Bake original (SNB)

- 3 tablespoons dried parsley
- S&P

Italian Mix Green Salad

Several weeks ago BD and I had some family over for a Sunday supper. We planned on making lobster ravioli in a tomato cream sauce for the main course, so I went in search of a new salad that would go well with pasta. I came across this idea and ran with it. Since that dinner, his cousin G, has asked about it a few times and I promised her that I would stop being such a slacker at posting and would get it up tonight. So somewhere in between catching up on my favorite show, doing homework, cooking dinner, and cleaning up after BD, I managed to find the time!

Italian Mix Green Salad

Serves 6-8

(print the recipe)

Ingredients:

- 10oz Spring Mix

- 4oz prosciutto

- 1 pint grape tomatoes

- Half a large red onion

- 6oz fresh mozzarella

- ¼ cup Balsamic Vinegar

- ¾ cup EVOO

- S&P

Directions:

1. Prepare the fresh ingredients: cut tomatoes in half, red onion thinly sliced, mozzarella in bite-sized cubes, prosciutto in short strips.

2. Prepare the balsamic vinaigrette: add the vinegar, S&P, and EVOO to a small bowl and whisk vigorously. You could also use one of those salad shaker things, which is what I did. I wasn’t sure who would like the Balsamic Vinaigrette so I gave everyone several choices. If I’m making a small amount of dressing I use the bowl/whisk method, but for larger amounts that I intend on serving a crowd the dressing shaker is perfect.

3. Add all the fresh ingredients to a large salad bowl and toss. You can choose to drizzle the balsamic vinaigrette over the salad and toss together, or serve on the side.

Thoughts: This salad has a lot of bold flavors but it really works well together. I think adding some sliced grilled chicken would make for an excellent entrée salad for lunch or dinner.

Breakfast Paninis

When I was a little girl, probably 7 or 8 years old, I remember my mother telling me that pancakes were for dinner one night. I thought she had lost her mind. I can clearly recall thinking: you can’t have breakfast for dinner – it’s just not right. Now at 26, breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite things to do. Usually I will do this when it will be just me for dinner. It’s really quick, affordable, and perfect for one person because I almost always have everything I need on hand.

As I sat at work, waiting for my computer to find the file I needed, I started brainstorming about what to do for dinner. By the time I finally had the file – dinner plans were set. Breakfast sandwich!

Personally, I am a huge fan of the breakfast sandwich. I won’t lie; I love them because bacon and cheese are a fairly standard choice. While I have always loved bacon (sadly I could eat a pound of it by myself), I haven’t always been a huge fan of eggs. As a kid I would dip my sausage, bacon, or toast in the yolk of a sunny side up or over easy egg, but I wouldn’t touch scrambled or eat the whites. It wasn’t until I was 18 or 19 and managing a restaurant inside of a charming hotel that had a Sunday brunch that I actually started to even consider trying them. We had an omelet station on the brunch and the omelets just looked so GOOD! And after a long Saturday night, they were calling to me. I would load them up with every veggie possible, some bacon, and a ton of cheese. Not to mention a good amount of salt and pepper. Nowadays, I will eat eggs in a variety of ways but never plain or by themselves. I guess you could say they have to be “masked” in some way shape or form.

Back to dinner! Tonight I made a breakfast sandwich for dinner. It was super simple and ready to eat in about 15 minutes. This delightful dinner had crispy bacon, eggs with red bell pepper and onion, and creamy havarti cheese on a ciabatta roll. Say it with me now: Mmmmmmm!

Ciabatta Breakfast Sandwich

Steps:

1- Start your bacon or sausage or even ham.

2- Dice up onion and red bell pepper. Sauté till soft in a small sauté pan.

3- Whisk together your eggs with a little splash of milk and S&P. I used two eggs.

4- Once the veggies are soft, add a little more butter and then add your eggs.

5- Here you can either scramble your eggs or make them omelet-like. I was going for omelet-like but I got distracted and had to switch to scrambled. Tastes the same but omelets are easier to work with in a sandwich.

6- Slice ciabatta and layer each side with sliced cheese. Place the eggs on the bottom half, the bacon of the top half, and then put the two halves together and mush down.

7- Here you have several choices: 1-eat as is, 2- toast up in the oven or 3- press it.

8- I pressed mine using my decade old George Forman that is still kicking. It took about 3-5 minutes for the cheese to melt and the bread to get a nice crunch to it. Before adding it to the grill, I find that lightly brushing the bread with a little EVOO helps keeps it from getting burnt.

Interesting Food Fact: Ciabatta literally means “carpet slipper”. Who knew? Well… the Italians I guess.

My thoughts on this dish: Quick and simple – which I love. Havarti was a great choice for cheese because it melts really well and got nice and gooey. I love ciabatta and it had a nice crunch on the outside, but still chewy and soft on the inside. I would have loved if my eggs where omelet style, but scrambled with the peppers and onions was good too. And with all the cheese on there I didn't have to worry about the egg falling out of my sandwich. This is always a good thing in my book.

Kitten ^..^

Comfort Food Heaven: Stuffed Meatloaf

At the request of DB I made some simple, homemade comfort food. We rarely eat at home on Monday night's as we opt to get out of the house and have a few drinks instead but this week was an exception. Monday nights do seem to be a good night to partake in some soul-warming food though. I decided on making Stuffed Meatloaf, Whipped Potatoes and Corn. I had been craving this meatloaf for a good while now and luckily I remember how I did it before. (I've only made it once before).

One of the main reasons I wanted to start a blog was so that I would HAVE to write down my recipes. I never write them down, hardly ever follow one and refuse to share them - till now. I love looking at recipes for inspiration but its a very rare instance that I would follow one to a T when it comes to cooking. I also don't measure, so most everything is a "guesstimate" as to the proportions but close enough.

Stuffed Meatloaf

Inspiration: This recipe is actually derived from one Rachael Ray does. I caught a 30 Minute Meal and this was the main dish. This was well over two years ago so I have no clue what her recipe is.

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

- 1.5lbs of ground beef

- 1 shallot

- 1 heaping tablespoon of minced garlic (I use a regular large spoon)

- 1 tablespoons of dried oregano

- 1 tablespoon dried basil

- 1 teaspoon dried parsley

- 3 slices of prosciutto

- 5 sliced of provolone cheese
- Two handfuls of fresh baby spinach

- 1/3 cup of bread crumbs

- 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

- 1 egg

- few dashed of Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and Pepper to taste

You will also need: Cooking spray, parchment paper and two cookie sheets

Procedure:

1. Mince garlic and shallot.

2. In a large mixing bowl, crack and whisk the egg.

3. Add meat, garlic, shallot, oregano, parsley, basil, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, worcestershire and S&P (salt and pepper). Mix well with hands until well incorporated but don't over mix it.

4. Take two cookie sheets and two pieces of parchment paper. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Lay one piece of parchment over the cookie sheet. ****I forgot I was out of parchment so I just sprayed the pan but parchment makes this A LOT easier.**** Place meat mixture in the form of a ball in the center. Then take 2nd sheet of parchment and lay over it. Take the second cookie sheet and press down until the meat is about 1/3 - 1/2 of an inch thick.

5. Remove top cookie sheet and parchment paper. Layer the three slices of prosciutto, then the provolone cheese and finally the spinach straight down the middle.

6. Start at one side of the meat and slowly roll the meat to the other side. Remove parchment and flip the meat so that the seam side is down. Mold and pinch the ends to create a seal to keep the cheese inside.

7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. ** I prefer to take mine out when its still just a little bit pink.

8. Let stand for about 5-10 minutes and then cut into 1" thick slices to serve.

My thoughts on this dish: Its super simple and a nice twist on a pretty standard comfort food. I was very happy with the flavor of the meat. All the flavors blended really well and it was super moist. I was a little concerned that I put too much garlic (which is very rare for me because I love it) but BD said he couldn't even taste it. If you aren't a garlic fan you might to use a little less just to be on the safe side.