Rosemary Parmesan Coins

I absolutely love crackers! And homemade crackers are soooo much better than store-bought. This is a great recipe! The crackers are so delicately flavoured with an almost short-bread like consistency. I didn't get pictures of the crackers after they baked, but they looked just like the unbaked crackers but the flecks of parmesan turned a beautiful golden brown and made the finished product look so great. I made these for our Superbowl party and they were definitely a hit!

Rosemary Parmesan Coins

Recipe from The Best of Fine Cooking - Party Food 2010

Ingredients:

• 6 oz (1 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
• 1 oz (3/4 cup lightly packed) freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
• 1 generous tbsp finely grated lemon zest
• 2 1/2 tsp coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp table salt
• 1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 4 oz (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces, chilled
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• kosher salt, for sprinkling (optional)

Method:

1. In a food processor, combine the flour, cheese, lemon zest, rosemary, table salt, and pepper. Process until just blended. Add the butter and pulse until the dough resembles coarse crumbs. Stir the yolk and lemon juice together with a fork and drizzle over the mixture. Pulse until you have small, moist crumbs that just begin to clump together.
2. Pile the moist crms on an unfloured work surface. With the heel of your hand, push and gently smear the crumbs away from you until they start to come together in cohesive dough. Using a pastry scraper or metal spatula, lift up one edge of dough and fold it into the center (dough will still be rough, so don't expect a neat, smooth fold). Repeat withthe opposite edge, like folding a letter. Turn the dough 45 degrees. Give the dough another smearing and shape into 14 inch log thats 1 1/4 inches in diameter.
3. Wrap in plast and refrigerate until firm, about 4 hours, or up to 2 days.
4. Position racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven and heat to 375F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment. Using a thin, sharp knife, cut the log into 1/4 inch slices. Arrange about 1/2 inch apart on prepared sheets.
5. Bake until medium golden around the edges about 15-20 minutes. Rotating the sheets as needed for even baking. Don't overbake them though or you will lose the lemon and rosemary flavours. If you like, sprinkle with a little kosher salt just as baking sheets come out of the oven. Set sheets on racks to cool. When coins are completely cool, store in an airtight container.
   

Stay tuned for some more great recipes this week including a delicious Cranberry Pear Linzer tort! And the upcoming Daring Bakers Challenge which is released on February 27th. :) Can't wait!!!

Happy Baking my Friends!

Hot Crab and Artichoke Dip

I LOVE ordering crab and artichoke dip when I go to restaurants. I was so disappointed when Cactus Club discontinued theirs a couple years ago.... I know, I know, they have to constantly update their menu to keep with the times and such, but honestly, why get rid of a good thing? I was pretty excited when I found this recipe for crab and artichoke dip. It isn't quite up to snuff with Cactus Club's dip, but it is pretty darn close. :)

Another great thing about this recipe is how easy and quick it is. Step 1 - gather ingredients; Step 2 - Whirl ingredients in food processor; Step 3 - Bake til hot. Thats it - its that simple. One thing I would recommend - don't use canned crab. Use either lump frozen crab meat or fresh crab meat. It honestly makes a big difference in the taste and texture of this dip.


Hot Crab and Artichoke Dip
Recipe from The Guy Can't Cook by Cinda Chavich

Ingredients:

• one 4-oz package cream cheese
• 2 tbsp bottled chili sauce
• 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp prepared horseradish
• 1/2 cup low-fat mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
• 1 cup finely grated fresh parmesan or romano cheese
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
• one 14-oz can artichoke hearts, drained well and chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1 cup fresh or frozen crabmeat
• smoked paprika for garnish

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. In a food processor, add cream cheese, chili sauce, lemon juice, horseradish, mayonnaise, yogurt, parmesan, pepper, and hot pepper sauce. Process until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl so all ingredients are well combines. Add the artichoke hearts, garlic, green onions and crabmeat (be sure to pick through the crab to remove any bits of shell or cartilage). Pulse a few times, just to combine. Spoon the dip into a small baking dish. Sprinkle with a bit more cheese and some smoked paprika, and bake for 20-30 minutes or until it begins to bubble and starts to brown on top. Serve this dip hot, with pita chips or crostini (I like tortilla chips too).

Pretty easy huh? Any yummy! You can make a restaurant quality starter for your dinner party and impress your guests (or bring back some nostalgic feelings about Cactus Clubs delicious dip...)! I am heading out of town this week for work, so might not be blogging as much as I should be. But I have set up a few posts to attempt while I'm out of town, so we'll see how it goes. Hope all of you have an awesome Sunday and a great week! Today I'm making Ginger Cake with a Warm Apple Compote before I head off and leave hubby to fend for himself this week... at least he'll have cake!

Happy Cooking my Friends!

Not-too-Special Grilled Cheese

Well folks, I have some earth-shattering news for you!!!!! I made it through cooking my entire Superbowl menu without some sort of accident (knock on wood that next year goes as smoothly). Some highlights from the menu include: slow cooker chicken wings, stuffed mushrooms, ginger sandwich cookies with lemon cream and drum-roll please..... Caramel Apple Cheesecake that some of you may have seen on an episode of Bobby Flay's Throwdown! It was a great night and recipes will most likely follow (although, no promises about how quickly they will be posted)! All in all it was a good time and definitely good food. But, after all that luck, of course everything can't be perfect right? I woke up sick, sick, sick on Monday morning and of course its busy at work so I have to drag myself in there and do my job. :( Poor me! haha

So I'm laying in bed "resting" right now while I post a short post to let you know I'm still alive after all the Superbowl cooking and definitely feeling a little sorry for myself (which I shouldn't be - there are people out there feeling a heck of a lot worse than me right now!!!).

When you're sick you want a little comfort and for me that came in the form of coming home to dinner being all ready for me - tomato soup (yes, from a can) and grilled cheese sandwich. Hubby felt bad that I had to go to work sick, so he made me my favorite "sick meal". :) What a nice guy!

So tonight, I made another grilled cheese - that of course I took a couple pictures of! Here is what is in my not-too-special grilled cheese (recipe by me!) haha if you can call it a recipe.

Take a couple pieces of bread, butter one side of each slice. Spread a thin layer of mayo on the other side of one of the slices of bread. Put a nice layer of shredded old cheddar cheese on top of the mayo, top with some crisp fried bacon, sprinkle with garlic powder and a few red chilli flakes then top with a bit of shredded parmesan cheese. Top with other slice of bread (buttered side out) and place in frying pan heated over medium heat. Fry until golden brown on one side, flip and fry until the other side is golden brown. Remove to plate, cut in half on the diagonal and serve with bucket-loads of ketchup (or not, but thats how I roll!). Enjoy while wallowing in your own self-pity.

Heres to feeling better tomorrow!!! Happy Cooking my Friends! More exciting posts to follow later in the week. :)

Proscuitto Wrapped Salmon

While my mom was still visiting, I thought I would experiment on her again with but another new recipe! This time I made Proscuitto Wrapped Salmon (Chef at Home), roasted baby potatoes and ceasar salad with a homemade dressing. All of it turned out very nicely and the presentation was lovely. The recipes were quite simple and used very straight forward and easy to find ingredients.

For the salmon - take 4 filets and season with salt and pepper. Smear approximately 1/2 -1 tbsp of grainy mustard (experiment to see what you like best) and then wrap with one strip of proscuitto. Broil in the oven til flakes when checked with a fork.

Salmon prior to going into the oven:

My cousin came to visit me in May and shared her recipe for ceasar salad dressing with me! I'm so thankful to her for sharing because I think it is one of the best ceasar salad dressing's I've ever tasted! Here is the recipe:

Whisk the following ingredients together in a small bowl:

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise


• 1 clove garlic, crushed (or more to taste)


• 1 1/2 tsp worscestshire sauce


• 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice


• 1 1/2 tsp red wine vinnegar


• 1/8 cup olive oil


• 1/4 cup parmessan

Enjoy!

Thanks for taking the time to check out my post! Hope you enjoyed this one. Let me know if you try it out and what you think!