We have the tubes...

To my fellow readers,

As many of you know, we recently moved. This has obviously made cooking quite challenging, though not impossible. The larger issue has been the lack of Internet.

Today, over a week after I was promised to have it, my network is up and running. I can now come back to my blog and continue to share what I have been cooking.

Hopefully over the next several days I should be able to work out the image issue and get things running smoothly again.

Thanks and happy eating,
James

Still no internets

technical difficulties...

I guess I have reached my image size limit...so until I can work it out my next few posts will be without images.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

The Management.

Pizza Night in Chicago

Wednesday may be Prince Spaghetti night in some homes...but Monday is turning into Pizza Night at ours. I once again tried a new recipe. This one came via my mother-in-law who pointed out a who set of articles on epicurious.com on pizza.

I tried this one. With a few tweeks. I added more salt, used High Gluten Flour and added oil.

I also made a simple salad of greens, a thick mustard vinaigrette and shaved Parm.

The simplest way to get nice big pieces is to use a vegetable peeler.


For the pizza this week I wanted to try something new. I went for a "sausage" and onion with BBQ.


I sauteed the onions, then added the "sausage" and cooked until browned. Then poured on some BBQ sauce, and seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.






Though good, the flavor still wasn't there. The best still is the no-knead dough.

Eggplant Parm

I learned how to make many great Italian (American) dishes when I worked at Comella's when I was in high school. One of our favorites is eggplant parm, which we often, as we did last night, eat as a sandwich.

Eggplant Parm Sandwiches
Eggplant, sliced thinly, peeled or unpeeled
flour
egg
milk
bread crumbs
Italian Seasoning
tomato sauce
Parm
hot peppers (optional)
bread

Start by slicing the eggplant, it can be either peeled or unpeeled.


Toss the slices with salt and let sit at least an hour in colander with a pan under. This help soften the eggplant, so that after it is cooked it won't have that chewy texture.



After the eggplant has sat, rinse quickly and pat dry with a towel.


To cook, prepare three dishes. The first with flour, the second with eggwash (egg with a touch of milk) and the final with bread crumbs. Season these with salt and pepper. If using plain bread crumbs adds some Italian seasoning to them. Set them up right next to your pan.




Heat up a little oil in your pan as you begin to prepare the eggplant. Dredge (coat both sides) the eggplant in the flour, then dunk in the eggwash and finally in the bread crumbs, then place in the hot pan. Cook for about 5 minutes on a side until golden and cripsy. When done, place on a towel lined plate.


Once you have enough eggplant to make your sandwich, slice the bread and top with slices of the eggplant. Top with cheese and broil for a minute to warm the cheese.

Meanwhile warm up the tomato sauce.


Top with the tomato sauce and hot peppers.


To make a baked Eggplant Parm, cook all the eggplant and set aside. In a baking dish, pour in enough pasta sauce to cover the bottom. Top with a layer of eggplant, then with cheese. Alternating between eggplant and cheese. After a couple of layer, pour in more sauce, then continue with the eggplant. Finally top with more sauce.

You can also through in other vegetables as well, such as spinach or mushrooms. Or other cheeses such as mozzeralla or fontina.

Bake in a 400 deg over about 20 - 30 min until hot.

This will store well before cooking either in the fridge or freezer.

Recipe of the Day: Baked Brie

Baked Brie is a wonderful appetizer that everyone loves. You can wrap it in pastry, but I like the simplicity of this recipe.

Baked Brie
One brie, any size
brown sugar, enough to coat the top
almonds, enough to coat the top


Remove the top of the brie to expose the inside.


Place in a baking dish, or back in the wood round that it came in. (If using the wood container, make sure to remove any stickers before putting in the oven.)

Top with the almonds in a single layer, then with the sugar.



Bake in a 400 deg oven until the cheese is soft and the sugar has caramelized. You can also finish under the broiler for a minute.

Serve with bread and or crackers.

Sandwiches

Yes, it is true I am a Sandwich Artist. As many of you know I worked at Subway when at Rochester, and there learned how to make a lot of sandwiches very fast. The funny part though is that there is actually no "art" to their "artistry". They have a formula and you better stick to it. As for at home though, that's were the fun begins.

I have always been a big fan of the sandwich, maybe its the similarity to pizza...bread, cheese...

The sandwich is so versatile, with a few basic components you can make an infinite number of sandwiches. By changing the bread, protein (cheese and or meat), veggies and dressing you can rearrange them to create almost any taste.

Last night we went to a friends baseball game (Go Lukey!!) and brought sandwiches with us. I had picked up some great looking mushrooms at the farmers market. I sauteed these with a touch of salt and pepper and oil. I topped with a yellow tomato, wild arugula and fresh mozzarella. Then a little salt and pepper and Italian seasoning and EVOO and Balsamic. To really make your sandwiches taste great, make sure to season them with salt and pepper. It makes a good sandwiches turn great.