Pizzelle or Italian Waffle Cookies

Pizzelle, also known as Italian Waffle cookies, can trace their origin back to ancient Roman times. They are simply made with sugar, eggs, flour, butter or oil; personally I believe using butter gives the cookies a better flavor and texture.  Flavorings are generally vanilla, anise, lemon, caramel or chocolate. As with Black and White Cookies, a pizzella (singular)can have a combination of half vanilla, half chocolate. You can always be daring and add mint extract to the chocolate batter or finely crushed hazelnut meal to the flour. Think of this as using a basic cookie dough, or in this case, batter, recipe and adding your imagination.

Depending on the variations in ingredient amounts and cooking times on the pizzelle press, the cookies can be either hard and crisp or soft and chewy. They are seen often at Italian weddings, rolled into a cone and filled with cannoli cream (ricotta cheese mixed with sugar). As a sandwich cookie, a filling of cannoli cream or hazelnut spread can be smeared between two cookies. However, the hard and crisp variety is too delicate to withstand a layer of firm ice cream for a sandwich; but is delicious as a crushed topping instead.  Although, a thicker made pizzella is exactly what is used to make those waffle cones you get at the local ice cream shoppe.

The press itself costs approximately $50 and can create 2-4 pizzelle, depending on the size in diameter being "baked". There is also a variety of designs that can be pressed upon the batter; the most popular being a snowflake or star.  If you're not inclined to buy a press and make your own pizzelle; they are usually available in the bakery section of major supermarkets; or at online stores.

A serving of six (4 inch) cookies is about 140 calories, containing 6 grams of fat and 19 grams of carbohydrates. Pair this with fresh fruit and it makes an excellent meal in itself.  If this doesn't entice you,  then I don't know what will.  Enjoy!

Basic Vanilla Pizzelle

Ingredients:

3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder

Preparation:

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until fluffy and a yellow color. Make sure the butter has cooled to room temperature before adding into the egg mixture; this will keep the eggs from curdling. Add the vanilla extract; do not over mix.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and gently fold into the wet ingredients until well incorporated.

Follow the instructions on the pizzelle press for batter measurements and proper cooking time. When done, remove to a wire rack for cooling.

Makes 2-3 dozen depending on size made.


Mary Cokenour

Crispy Fries from the Oven.

Fried, the very name indicates that a food item has been dropped into a deep skillet, or deep fryer contraption, filled with sizzling oil. To be cooked until done, drained upon paper towels, seasoned and enjoyed while hot. Unfortunately, once the fried food begins to cool down, any oil within tends to ooze out and it doesn't taste so yummy anymore.

There is an alternative method and that is to make the "fried" food in a very hot oven with minimal fat used. Whether using butter, margarine, oil or combination, the amount used is enough to coat the food, let it cook to crispiness, but not get soggy once it begins to cool down. The recipe I'm posting contains a basic seasoning mix, but try mixtures that would complement a total meal, such as an Italian herbal mix. However, try to avoid using olive oil as it does not get hot enough in the oven to give a good crisp to your potatoes.

Oven Baked Potato Wedges

Ingredients:

3 large baking potatoes, unpeeled
2 Tbsp butter, softened
2 Tbsp canola or peanut oil
1 tsp each fine sea salt, garlic powder and paprika
½ tsp ground black pepper
¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 450F; spray a large jelly roll pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Rinse the potatoes and pat dry; cut each potato lengthwise in half and then cut each half into four long wedges.

In a large plastic bag, combine the potatoes, butter, oil and seasonings; make sure to coat the wedges thoroughly. Place in a single layer onto the sprayed pan; bake for 35-40 minutes, turning once; until tender inside and crispy outside.

Makes 4 servings (6 wedges per serving)

Mary Cokenour

Ribs and Potatoes Redone...again.

If you love to cook, you know yourself that you are always looking for new recipes, ways of redoing recipes, even redoing your own recipes. Good cooks have not just a passion for food, but imagination and creativity in the kitchen; we're not settlers, we're doers.

From previous posts, I've already established that I enjoy grilling and smoking meats, but in winter time, that's rarely an option. Instead, I work on ways of obtaining a good barbequed item using the oven or a crock pot....yes, I said crock pot. Barbeque does not always refer to charred meat; it's a technique, not a standard.

Lets talk about boneless ribs and your question is, "How can ribs be boneless?" Boneless pork ribs are essentially a pork loin that has been cut into sections to imitate the shape and look of actual pork spare ribs. This type of boneless rib is commonly known as "Country Style Boneless Pork Ribs". They are meatier and leaner than the typical slab of pork spare ribs. For those who like the knife and fork method of eating ribs, they're the perfect choice of cut; that is unless you enjoy sucking sauce off the actual bones.

I have posted a similar recipe for crock pot boneless ribs called Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs using an Asian style sauce to cook them in. Today's recipe will be using a typical barbeque sauce, and you can use homemade sauce or bottled. Now when I make my homemade sauce, I do make enough to be able to freeze some for future use. However, when I decide to do something spontaneously and want to cut corners, heck yeah, I cheat and use a good bottled brand such as Sweet Baby Ray's, Jack Daniels or KC Masterpiece. These brands provide a thick sauce, loaded with flavor and hold up in long time cooking, such as with a crock pot.

Crock Pot Boneless Pork Ribs

Ingredients:

3 lbs boneless (country style) pork ribs
2 Tbsp flour
1 large onion, chopped
1(14.5 oz)can diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 1/2 cups barbeque sauce

Preparation:

Set a 6 quart crock pot on low; layer the ribs inside and sprinkle the flour over them. (The ribs will exude liquid during the cooking process; the flour will help keep the sauce thick.)

Layer the onions, tomatoes and garlic over the ribs; pour the sauce over and make sure to cover evenly. Cover and let cook for 10 hours.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Now a great side dish for these ribs is Funeral Potatoes. Hubby and I don't like the typical corn flakes topping, so I changed my recipe a little and put a good layer of shredded cheddar cheese on top, besides within the casserole itself. I also add chopped, partially cooked bacon for that smoky flavor. Everything is better with bacon, right?

What is really great with this side dish is that you can refrigerate it for 8 hours, let it come up to room temperature for a half hour; let it bake for 1 and 1/2 hours and it will be ready at the same time as the ribs. When the barbeque sauce mixes with the oozing cheese and sauce of the potatoes, your mouth will be in orgasmic delight!

Enjoy the pleasure!

Mary Cokenour

Move over Chicken Noodle Soup.

Chicken Noodle soup is the classic comfort soup and cure all for anything that ails you from the common cold to depression. Not sanctioned by the American Medical Association, but what do they really know about home remedies anyway? While a huge believer in the powers of herbal and homemade remedies, this post is more about soup.

This week alone I was emailed three advertisements, from three foodie sites, and they all featured "Chicken Tortilla Soup" as the soup of the week. Surprisingly, I have not ever eaten nor made this soup before, so looked at the recipes and they were basically almost all the same ingredients and directions. Strange I thought. So I started to surf the web and look up more of this type of recipe and guess what? Either almost everyone invented this soup first, or almost everyone is copying a basic recipe and claiming it as their own. There were a few other versions here and there, but when I read the word "tortilla" in a recipe name, I expect Southwestern/Mexican flavors and ingredients. Items like carrots, brussel sprouts and edamame, or making a classic chicken noodle soup and putting slices of avocado on top, just don't do it for me,

I had already figured out my own variation on Taco Soup, and that is what I was going to base this new soup on; consider it copying myself. Going to my well stocked pantry, the soup process began and the results were quite, quite pleasing. The soup was colorful with ingredients, flavorful from the seasonings and a mild warming sensation from the chilies exemplified the essence of comfort.

The tortilla chips? I wondered about them myself, basically why put something crunchy in a soup, just so it can get soggy?  I was surprised though, the softened tortilla chips gave the illusion of noodles or dumplings enhancing the feeling of comfort overall. Oh, while I do list some possible garnishes at the end of the recipe, you'll find you don't really need them. The soup is delicious as is and a garnish would just be nothing more than a decoration.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 (15 oz) can black beans, do not drain liquid
1 (15 oz) can pinto beans, do not drain liquid
2 (11 oz) cans Mexican corn, do not drain liquid
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 Tbsp dried cilantro
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground black pepper
2 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
Tortilla chips

Preparation:

Set a 6 quart crock pot on low; place inside the ingredients in order of listing. Cook for 6 hours; remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to crock pot and mix thoroughly. Line bottom of soup bowl with tortilla chips; ladle soup over chips.

Makes 10 servings.

Garnishes: sour cream, shredded cheese, avocado, chopped fresh cilantro

Mary Cokenour

Italian Tubular Feasting.

If you think about it, many food items come in a tubular form; examples are hotdogs, bratwurst, taquitos, burritos, rolled crepes. In Italian cuisine, examples would be cannoli and many pastas such as ziti, penne and manicotti. I guess if you were a Freudian psychologist, you could come up with some type of fantastical sexual reasoning behind the use of this form, but I'm not even touching that here.

So lets get down to the main focus of this blog post...Manicotti; a large tubular form of pasta, usually stuffed with cheeses, meats, veggies or a combination; covered in sauce and cheese, baked in the oven till tender. Hungry yet? Manicotti can be a bit difficult to make as you have to be careful to not split the pasta when stuffing it. Package directions say to cook until tender, but as with shells, I pull them out of the boiling water when they are al dente. That way they are still a little firm, but flexible enough to stuff without breaking them open; they'll become tender after the baking process is done.

Ok, lets get to the recipe and directions for this yummy meal.

Baked Manicotti

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz) package dried manicotti (depending on the brand, there will be 12-14 pieces)
3 lbs ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided in half
1 cup shredded provolone cheese
1 cup grated Romano cheese
1/2 cup mixture of minced fresh herbs (oregano, parsley, basil and thyme)
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp ground black pepper
6 cups homemade meat sauce

Note: you can add 1 cup of crumbled, cooked meat such as Italian sausage, or chopped raw spinach to the mixture.

Preparation:

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil on high heat; cook manicotti for 10 minutes, or until al dente. Strain manicotti out and place in large bowl of cold water to stop cooking process and keep them from sticking together.

While waiting for water to boil and pasta to cook, prepare the filling by place all remaining ingredients, except one cup of shredded mozzarella and the meat sauce into a large bowl. Use an immersion blender or hand mixer to smooth out the cheeses.

Preheat oven to 350F; spray a 4 qt baking dish with nonstick baking spray; spread 3 cups of sauce over bottom of dish. Use a teaspoon or piping bag to fill each tube; place into the baking dish. Spoon remaining 3 cups of sauce over them; evenly spread the remaining mozzarella cheese over the manicotti; cover with aluminum foil.

Bake for 30 minutes and let rest for 5 minutes before serving; serve 2 per person.

Makes 6-7 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Spur of the Moment Pizza

French Bread Pizza can be found easily in the pizza section of the frozen food aisle; but making it from scratch is just as easy. Honestly though, wouldn't you rather make it yourself? The frozen product has preservatives, you have to preheat the oven, let it bake for 20 minutes and it's usually an unsatisfactory product. The local Maverik (gas station/convenience store) puts out a pretty good French bread pizza, but it goes very quickly. I like to have it when I am in the mood for pizza, don't have the dough handy, but I want it now! To satisfy my craving, I finally decided to just make it myself.

Basically there are three main ingredients: loaf of the wide French bread, a block of mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce. Cut the loaf in half to create two smaller loaves; then cut these in half through the inside. Place them crust side down on a large jelly roll pan.

Spoon sauce over the interior side of the bread; I use about 1/3 of a cup, but I like a lot of sauce on my pizza. I try to use my homemade pasta sauce, but if that's not handy, then I'll use Contadina's Pizza Squeeze sauce. Now cut slices of the mozzarella, about 1/8" thick and lie them side by side until the bread is covered.  I find the sliced cheese melts better and I like the gooey texture it creates on the bread.

Bake in a preheated 425F oven, center rack, for about 12-15 minutes.  Cut into thirds for easier picking up and eating, or just go for broke!  This will make four French bread pizzas.

Of course you can add other ingredients - meats, veggies, whatever you like, but make sure the meats are cooked thoroughly before using.  Also, mix the meats or veggies with shredded mozzarella cheese instead; that way the cheese will melt all around the pieces.

Whether you are making this for yourself, other adults or children; have fun with it!

Mary Cokenour

Going Up to the Sunset Grill

The Sunset Grill

900 North Main Street
(Highway 191, north end of town)
Moab, Utah 84532

Phone: 435-259-7146

Website:  http://www.sunsetgrillmoab.com/index.html

The Sunset Grill is the former home of Charlie Steen, who put Moab, Utah on the map when he found uranium.  The restaurant opened in 1993, serving casual fine dining to locals and tourists alike.  To reach the restaurant itself, prepare yourself for a winding climb 250 feet up into the Red Rocks.  From its location, one can see for miles the city of Moab and the stunning Red Rocks; at night, the stars shine brightly overhead.

My husband and I found ourselves at The Sunset Grill for Valentine's Day; it was a wonderful choice.  We were warmly greeted by the hostess and our waitress was a charming young lady.  We were seated at the topmost dining area, so were able to see the city lights of Moab from our table.

We began the evening with a popular appetizer, Artichoke Gratin Baguettes; diced artichoke in a rich cheesy mixture, topped with mozzarella cheese, spread onto French bread slices and grilled; they are served with a marinara sauce.  I say popular as it seems that almost every couple ordered this appetizer and understandably; it was absolutely decadent and delicious.

For a main course, I had the Prime Rib; a Texas style cut that was cooked medium-rare, tender, juicy and flavorful. The baked potato was fluffy and the steamed vegetables still had a crisp texture.

Roy chose one of the Valentine's Day special; Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon with a Balsamic Peppercorn Sauce; I had a taste and wished I had ordered it also. The beef was so tender and juicy; the sauce was sweet, tart and tangy with a hint of the peppercorns; just perfect.

The main entrees were not small in portion, so we had to forego dessert...no regrets though.

The Sunset Grill has a warm, welcoming atmosphere and the staff reflect this well; no pretentious attitudes here. Whether it's for a special occasion or just a dinner out; dress fancy if you like, but jeans and a nice shirt would do just as well; The Sunset Grill will make your night. Better make reservations!

Mary Cokenour