Welcome Summer and the Sun Tea Jar

Memorial Day weekend is here and it's official.  Summer is here!  It's only been this last week that it FEELS to me like summer is anywhere nearby.  Maybe this has to do with the fact that while out and about the evening of MAY 3RD, I wore a SKI PARKA.  At any rate, this last week has finally found me turning on the central air, planning, buying  and planting the annuals in my summer flower pots for around the house and getting my hands dirty in the raised beds of my vegetable and herb gardens.

Now, I'm a year-round lover of iced tea (Luzianne tea bags, heavy on the sugar, please).  I prefer it to soda and always have a pitcher in the fridge.  Summer comes and I can't keep the pitcher full.  While I was grocery shopping the other day with the kids, I saw that our friends at Kroger had the glass sun tea jars I remember my mom and grandma sitting out in the sun each year.  I had to have one!  And this morning, its maiden voyage on my deck:

It couldn't be easier to make.  Just fill the jar with tap/filtered water (NOT boiling!!!), 4-6 tea bags and sugar (I like my tea to be like hummingbird food, so I use 2 cups...don't judge me ;-P).  Allow the jar to sit in the sun until the tea is brewed to your preferred strength then bring the jar in and pop it in the fridge or on your kitchen counter.  Serve over ice with a nice slice of lemon.

WELCOME SUMMER!!!!

Veal Saltimbocca Burgers

These are just plain amazing.  A new burger twist worth trying.  I pick up the ground veal at Wheeling's Miklas Meat Market. 

Saltimbocca Burgers

Rachael RayFrom Every Day with Rachael Ray

September 2007

FOUR SERVINGS

1 1/2 pounds ground veal
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
15 leaves fresh sage, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
4 slices prosciutto (about 1/4 pound)
6 ounces fontina cheese, sliced or shredded
Eight 1-inch-thick slices semolina bread
2 cups chopped romaine lettuce from the heart
Juice of 1/2 lemon

1. In a medium bowl, mix the veal, garlic and sage; season with salt and pepper. Form 4 patties, pressing your thumb in the center of each burger to prevent it from bulging while cooking.

2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add the burger patties and cook through, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Top the burgers with the prosciutto and fontina. Cover the skillet to melt the cheese, about 3 minutes.

3. While the burgers cook, toast the bread and set aside.

4. In a medium bowl, dress the lettuce with the remaining 2 tablespoons EVOO and the lemon juice; season to taste with salt and pepper. Set each burger on a toasted bread slice; top with the romaine and another toasted bread slice.

Ramps, y'all! Again!

What's

She

Gonna

Do

With

ALL

THOSE

RAMPS

?!?!?

Oven-Roasted Shrimp

This isn't a recipe so much as a jumping off point.  Think of all the ways you can use this method of cooking shrimp.  It's one of the easiest ways I've encountered to cook shrimp.  I line a large rimmed baking sheet with a few layers of foil and just throw away the mess when I'm done.  Please note that temperature and cooking time is for shrimp that still have tails and peels ON.

Oven-Roasted Shrimp 

• 1 lb. shrimp (tails and peel still intact)--size medium (21-30 count per pound)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 stick butter
• salt and pepper
• lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Toss the shrimp with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, then spread on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Scatter pats of butter over the shrimp.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the shrimp are pink and opaque.

There are a number of modifications that can be made to this recipe.  You can add garlic and make a scampi-type shrimp, coat them in Old Bay or blackening seasoning, lemon pepper seasoning...the list goes on and on.

Oatmeal Cookies with Icing Drizzle

I came across this recipe for Iced Oatmeal Cookies on a favorite food blog of mine, Smitten Kitchen.  The SK blogger adapted a cookie recipe from cookbook Good to the Grain.  After following the recipe exactly the first time, I jotted down these changes.  They tested out to make the cookies exactly as I wanted them.  My changes were to eliminate buttering the cookie sheets--this makes for a more browned, crisp cookie than I prefer to eat--so if you prefer this, slather away with the butter.  I'm warning you, however, to watch cookies baked on buttered sheets very closely.  They can burn in an instant.  Additionally, I eliminated the cinnamon from the icing, and used just whole milk and confectioners sugar.  Lastly, these were made smaller than shown on SK, using the Small Pampered Chef Scoop (appx. 1 tablespoon).

Try these!  They're excellent in most any incarnation!

Firehouse Breakfast Bake, Take 2

This recipe was sent to me by my friend Kara (hi, Kara!!!).  The first time I made this, the only change I made was omitting 1 teaspoon of garlic salt from the recipe.  This is fantastic and a great choice if you want something that is a little different than the usual egg breakfast bakes.  The consistency of this is like that of a quiche, but there is no actual crust. 

I made the egg bake again this morning and I've made a few changes that I think make it a little easier and a little better.  Next time I make this I will also add a cup or so of diced fresh mushrooms.  It may be clear by now that I am a relentless recipe tinkerer.

-12 eggs
-2 cups rice, cooked (I use Trader Joe's frozen packs of brown rice--no cleanup!)
-1/2 stick butter, melted (I used unsalted)
-16 oz. cottage cheese, small curd
-1 envelope Knorr Leek Soup mix
-1/4 teaspoon black pepper
-1 package (16 oz. bag) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed of excess water
-1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, then add the cooked rice, melted butter, cottage cheese, soup mix, pepper, drained spinach and mix together.

Sprinkle the grated Parmesan cheese over the bottom of a 13x9" greased baking dish to make the "crust". Spread the egg mixture in the dish, covering all the cheese.

Cover and refrigerate overnight (I didn't have time to do this the first time I made it, and I just baked a few minutes longer). Remove from refrigerator 30 min. prior to baking. Bake uncovered at 325 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Cool 15-20 min. before cutting.

Serves 12

Shrimp Enchiladas

This recipe was on the cover of Bon Appetit last summer.  I saved it and then didn't come across it again until recently when I had company on the way for the weekend and a craving for Mexican food. 

The actual title of the recipe is "Shrimp and Cotija Enchiladas".  Cotija cheese is a hard, white Mexican cheese made from cow's milk.  If this is an ingredient you think you'll have trouble purchasing, you can substitute feta cheese.  I was able to make a trip to Reyna Foods in the Strip District of Pittsburgh to get most of the ingredients for this dish that I would have trouble getting at my local Kroger store.  It's a great little store that carries lots of Mexican/Latin American staples, novelties, various fresh guacamole and salsas as well as in-store-made tortillas and corn chips.  I was able to get the only other ingredient that isn't readily available to me at home in Wheeling, which is Crema Mexicana.  This is the Mexican version of sour cream (which, of course you can use as a substitute in this recipe).  True Crema is sour cream's richer, more decadent cousin.  If you can get your hands on it, you won't regret it.  It's delicious!

For the first time making this dish, I did follow the recipe closely.  I thought it was wonderful, but I do have just a few changes that I will make when (not if, WHEN!) I make these enchiladas again.  

• I will substitute flour tortillas for the corn tortillas called for in the recipe.  This is really a matter of personal preference.  The one modification I did make was to use both flour and corn tortillas in this dish.  The recipe directs that both sides of each tortilla be dredged in the freshly made salsa verde.  I liked how the flour tortillas soaked the flavor up more (and I have to be honest, I just don't care for the texture of corn tortillas--again, personal taste should guide you, here)
• The recipe calls for the finished enchiladas to be topped with thinly sliced avocado and red onion for serving.  The next time I make these, I will dice the avocado and red onion and marinate it in lime juice then top each enchilada with the mixture along with fresh cilantro.

Bon Appetit's Shrimp & Cotija Enchiladas RECIPE