Tag Archives: mozzarella

Baked Mozzarella Sticks with Butternut Squash Marinara

String Cheese for G-Strings

The weather’s getting warmer and you want to fill your tummy without working on that muffin top.  If stripper aerobics classes don’t put the sparkle in your crystal heels, you might want to shave off some calories another way.

When I first saw the shockingly seductive pics of baked treats using wonton and eggroll wrappers on Pinterest, I was skeptical.  Could some cooking spray and a quick trip in the oven beget lacy, crunchy appetizer happiness?  I ran the first test on my classic crab rangoon recipe and was literally floored – each light and crispy bite was greaseless and guilt-free.  Plus, my kitchen wasn’t covered with a sheen of oil from manning a deep fryer. Continue reading Baked Mozzarella Sticks with Butternut Squash Marinara

Middle Eastern Flatbread Pizza

Ok, hold your panties for this one folks (and sorry to all of my many friends who have a problem with the word “panties” – just pretend it didn’t happen).  This one is a middle east platter with flatbread for a plate.  You just eat away until you get to the table top and then lick it clean.  Kidding – use a plate, nasty.  But I do give you permission to lick the plate clean.  Fo sho.

This simple pizza is a riff off of the Lebanese treat, manaeesh, that’s like a pizza with ground meat and sumac.  If you haven’t tried ground sumac before, it’s certainly worth a go – it’s very slightly smoky and earthy, and can be used in lamb and beef dishes for absolute fabulousness.  Rather than marinara and sausage, you’ve got hummus and delicately spiced ground beef.  Mozzarella meets the melty craving and feta adds salty goodness.  Top it all off with cool, lemony tabouleh (which you can buy or make for yourself) and you are in business.  It’s ah-MAY-zing.  And oh so easy to prep for some random guests who decide to pop in.  Because you know those good friends of yours are total randoms.  It’s all good, though.  They always bring good booze, so certainly feed them for their generosity.

Recipe for

Middle Eastern Flatbread Pizza

Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sumac
pinch of allspice
1/4 tsp. thyme
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 c. of hummus
1/2 c. of tabouleh
2-3 tbs. of crumbled feta
1/2 c. of mozzarella cheese
2 large flatbreads (pita, naan or even 1 large piece of Afghan bread)

Begin by sauteeing the ground beef until no longer pink.  Drain and return pan to heat.  Mix in the salt, sumac, allspice, thyme and black pepper.  Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 450°.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or use a pizza stone) and put your flatbread on top.  Spread the hummus on each of the flat breads and top with the ground beef.  Crumble the feta on top and sprinkle the mozzarella over that.  Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

Remove from the oven and let hang out for 3-4 minutes.  Sprinkle the tabouleh on top and cut into wedges.  Serve.

 

Kitchen Soundtrack

Hippie Roll

Our pizza night growing up was rarely an affair catered by Pizza Hut or Dominos.  We used to frequent a family-owned joint that most Northern Virginians are probably familiar with called Joes.  We’d get take out from the Bailey’s Crossroads location, ordering doughy Sicilian pies with mounds of thinly-shaved toppings.  Their crusty calzones hid pools of creamy ricotta, melty mozzarella and tender ham.  They made the steak and cheese hero that I continue to judge all others against.  And their hippie rolls, a sausage stromboli of sorts with a tasty touch of crushed red pepper, became the fodder for regular, late night food cravings.  Pliant and chewy pizza dough held sweet roasted peppers and onions and a smidge of mozzarella cheese.  My dad would order a couple and slice them into rings for everyone to snack on, and they rarely lasted long. Continue reading Hippie Roll

Arancini (Sicilian Fried Rice Balls or Supplí)

I get a kick out of dishes that manage to both impress folks and meet their requirement for comfort-food status.  Let’s face it, gooey mac and cheese or creamy mounds of mashed potatoes are not loved for their looks.  In fact, the massive piles of goodness only make the foodie centerfolds because they bring back atavistic longing of the food of our childhood.  Which is exactly what comfort food does  – it nourishes us and brings us to a place just like home.  But if you really think about the taste profile of comfort food in an of itself, it’s typically simple in nature, and oftentimes mild in flavor.  Color-wise, it’s oftentimes blah as well – fried chicken, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and meat loaf all hang out in the beige to brown arena.  Now, I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, or even that it’s the rule across the board – I just think it’s worth noting that the requirements of comfort food need only be that it’s tasty for the soul and consumable in huge quantities.  So, what if we celebrated the kinds of comfort food that not only felt good to eat, but also looked just as lovely.

Arancini © Spice or Die

Arancini are gorgeous – the name itself means “little orange” in Italian and is an homage to the glorious golden color of these tangerine-sized delights as they are removed from the fryer.  Crunchy and light on the outside, and creamy and luxe in the inside, these little babies are comfort food at its best.  Probably my favorite part about this recipe is that you start with leftovers – the base of the arancini is risotto, left to coagulate and thicken to a point that you can form it into mini balls.  For those of you that make risotto from scratch, you know that it’s not so good as leftovers – the distinct grains of arborio rice turn into a porridge of sorts that’s a far cry from the glory that is served fresh out of the pot.  So what better way to resurrect it than to wrap it around bits of mozzarella, bread them and fry until lovely.  I say ye.

In a lot of these recipes that call for frying “until golden” I don’t ever mention the need for a thermometer – it’s silly given that a) I always use one and b) you should too.  A lot of the fear of frying comes from not getting the temperature just right – if the oil’s too hot, your food will burn on the outside before it cooks in the inside; cook too low and your food will come out greasy.  Remove the guessing game from the equation – buy a frying/candy thermometer and be precise.  You really don’t have an excuse as they are cheap and readily available (mine came from Bed, Bath and Beyond for like $7).  Besides, you are all about kitchen perfection. I know this for a fact.

I think that what sends this comfort food over the top is the brightness of presentation – beige is lightened up by bright, zesty marinara and basil.  It’s like a little Italian flag in every bite – a whole lot sexier than a mess of elbow macaroni.  Feel free to experiement with fillings and sauces – go decadent and dip them in a fontina funduta, or zesty with a nice basil pesto.  Stir spinach, peas or mushrooms into the risotto.  One of my favorite places in the whole wide world, La Fontanella, serves their supplíwith a savory meat ragu – they come as an appetizer but are just so filling, you could make a meal of them.  In the proverbial words of Humpty, “Dowhatchulike” and I am sure that you will be relishing in comfort-food majesty.

Arancini (Sicilian Fried Rice Balls or Supplí)

3 c. of leftover risotto
2 oz. of mozzarella, cut into 16 cubes
1/4 c. of flour
1 egg, beaten
2 tbs. of water
1/4 c. of bread crumbs
oil for frying

While your risotto is still cold, form into 16 small portions – sometimes I take a large bowl and put the risotto inside, and then score it like a pie into 8 slices.  I then take each “slice” and split it into two pieces.  Voilá – sixteen portions!  Wet your hands and form each of the portions into a smooth ball.  Push a cube of mozzarella into the risotto and roll again so that the cheese is completely covered by the risotto.  Place on a cookie sheet lined with a sheet of wax paper.  When you’ve rolled all of the arancini, place in the freezer to allow them to solidify a bit.

While the arancini are cooling, break out 3 shallow dishes.  Add 1/2 c. of flour to one dish.  Scramble the egg and two tbs. of water together in the second dish.  Place the breadcrumbs in the third dish.  Take the arancini out of the freezer and start an assembly line.  First dredge them in the flour, shaking off the excess.  Then, plunk them in the egg to wet them all over.  Lastly, dredge in the breadcrumbs and place on a clean dish or another cookie sheet lined with parchment.

Heat a pot of cooking oil to 320° and gently lower a batch of arancini into the hot oil (5 at a time is good).  Cook until beautifully golden on the outside, about 7 minutes.  If you don’t cook your arancini long enough, they will not be meltey goodness in the inside.  Drain on paper towels and serve with marinara for dipping.

Note

  • Use any risotto recipe you’d like to make these guys – just make sure that it’s good and cool when you start working with it.  My recipe for Rock Shrimp Risotto is a good starting point – just leave out the shrimp and you are in business.
  • After you dredge the shrimp in flour, egg and breadcrumbs, you can freeze the arancini.  They can be fried from frozen at 340° for 9 minutes.