Whipped Ricotta Appetizer

Perfect Pairing:  Flavored balsamic vinegar

People ask me all the time how I come up with recipes or ideas for the blog.  I am all over the board.  Many of the recipes featured here are family favorites that we have been making for years, recipes that have been passed down, inspired by a restaurant dish I devoured, or simply a product of my noggin.  This particular appetizer was inspired by a restaurant dish, but one that I have never tried. 

I was reading a review for a local restaurant and the writer was raving about a simple appetizer of whipped ricotta, grilled bread and honeycomb.  After reading that I was just looking for a reason to make it myself.  I have since made it four or five times.  It is so simple, rustic, and delicious. 

Ricotta is whirred in the food processor until completely smooth and then simply seasoned with salt and pepper.  I serve it on a tray loaded with grilled bread, honey, and balsamic vinegar.  I let guests make up their own bites based on their personal preference.

 

This appetizer is the perfect opportunity to show off that fancy vinegar gathering dust in your pantry.  I personally love vanilla fig balsamic.  I have raved about that stuff before.  It is scrumptious. 

On Thanksgiving I was feeling fancy and also included prosciutto and sliced figs.  Why not?

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Chocolate Sauce

Perfect Pairing:  Oreo Ice Cream Pie

This chocolate sauce is so easy to make and it is about 100x better than the store-bought version.  My family has been making this for years.  The original recipe card (that we still use) was written on a typewriter.  I believe the original came from my Grandma Rosie.  Who, by the way, was also the originator of Grandma Rosie’s Ice Cream Dessert.  The perfect pairing on that post was chocolate sauce.  They are a great combo.

Over Christmas I needed to make a dessert to serve a large group of people.  I wanted to find something I could do in advance.  I decided to make Oreo Ice Cream Pies.  They are not fancy, but they are really tasty.  They do get fancied up a bit when you drizzle on the homemade chocolate sauce. 

There is no recipe for these pies.  I started with pre-made Oreo crusts, a few half gallons of ice cream in various flavors, and Oreos.  

I used one crust for each half gallon of ice cream.  I let the ice cream sit out to soften a bit.  Once the ice cream starts to soften I transferred it to a large bowl and stirred with a wooden spoon until it was spreadable, but not melted.   

Half of the ice cream went into the pie shell, then that was topped with a handful (okay, maybe two handfuls) of chopped Oreos, another layer of ice cream, and then a few Oreos on top for good measure.  Then back to the freezer.  Dessert for 20+ people in just a few minutes!

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Citrus and Sherry Cranberry Sauce

Perfect Pairing:  Citrus and Herbs de Provence Rotisserie Turkey Breast

No surprise that I am following up the turkey recipe with a cranberry sauce!  Homemade cranberry sauce is so easy there is really no excuse to buy the canned stuff.

Fresh cranberries are combined with orange zest and juice, sugar, a cinnamon stick, and some sherry.  You can probably skip the sherry if you don’t want to invest in a bottle.  I use the cheap cooking sherry which is great in soups or for deglazing pans, so I like to have it on hand.

This cranberry sauce is perfect served alongside of the Citrus and Herbs de Provence Turkey Breast.  The citrus in the sauce and the zest in the turkey rub are great together.  Don't get me wrong, this cranberry sauce would be fabulous with any turkey!  

One year ago on Perfecting the Pairing:  Pumpkin Pecan Shortbread

Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing:  Manchego Cheese with Brown Butter Honey Sauce

Click "Read More" for the recipe...

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Chorizo and Potato Frittata

Perfect Pairing:  Sriracha

This recipe came to be because of a cooking accident.  Fortunately it turned into a very good thing!

I have a really good deal going when I visit my parents.  Before I head home I will send my mom some menu ideas along with a grocery list.  Usually by the time I get there everything is purchased and put away.  How fabulous is that??  My mom thinks it is a pretty good deal too because I do most of the cooking.  Everyone wins.

Recently I asked my mom to buy chorizo for an appetizer I wanted to try.  I guess I didn’t think to tell her to get Spanish chorizo instead of Mexican.  Once we realized this we were about 20 miles from the closest grocery store.  How different could they really be?  Well, it turns out they are very different.  My goal was to slice the chorizo and grill it, but you cannot do that with Mexican chorizo.  It is more of the crumbly bulk sausage variety. 

So now I had some cooked chorizo that needed to be used.   We didn’t have much else in the house, but did have eggs and potatoes.  A frittata!  There is a chance that this is actually more like a Spanish Tortilla, but honestly I don’t understand the difference, so I am calling it a frittata.  I am including this picture against my better judgment.  I know it is so far from being pretty, but it is nice to get an idea of what the entire recipe looks like.  Right?

We all loved this.  It was super hearty and great as a main course for dinner.  I used Manchego cheese but you could use whatever favorite cheese you have on hand.  The chorizo has a kick, but this dish is great topped with a little (or a lot of) sriracha sauce.  I love that stuff.

 

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Burger Sauce

Perfect Pairing:  Slap Chop

Typically ketchup, mustard, and pickles get all the action when it comes to topping a hamburger.  This burger sauce combines all of those along with some other good stuff.    It is a one-stop shop sort of deal, and a fun way to jazz up the standard summer burger!  Try it with some onion slices and avocado.  So good.  It is also great as a sandwich spread.

I have been known to collect obscure cooking tools, but I think the “slap chop” is pretty standard in many kitchens nowadays.  I don’t use it all the time but there are times when it is great.  I typically enjoy chopping, but the slap chop is the perfect for this recipe.  I used it to chop up the bread and butter pickles.  The pickles tend to slide all over the place when you try to chop them with a knife. 

 

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Thai Peanut Pasta Salad

Perfect Pairing – San-J Thai Peanut Sauce

What a fabulous weekend!  As I suspected, it was full to the brim of fun and good times.  The weather was perfect and we definitely made the most of it.  Getting back to reality might be a little difficult!

I like my pasta salads to have a lot of veggies, texture, and crunch.  Most importantly they need to have a delicious dressing.  A good example is this Crunchy Asian Noodle Salad.

Recently I went to the store to get the ingredients for Thai Broccoli Slaw Salad.  To my great annoyance they were out of broccoli slaw.  I stood in the produce section looking helpless for a few minutes while I came up with an alternate recipe in my head.  Turns out, I am really glad they were out of broccoli slaw because I loved this salad.  It checked off all of my pasta salad pre-reqs, it was crunchy, filled with veggies, and had a fabulous dressing. 

I used whole wheat rotini as the base for the salad and added Napa cabbage, green onions, cilantro, and edamame.  Everything is tossed with store bought Thai peanut sauce and topped with honey roasted peanuts.  It is so easy to throw together.  I think I can safely say it is my favorite pasta salad.  It is definitely going to show up a lot on my summer menu.  It is perfect served alongside anything that comes off the grill.  I made this for a "wienerpalooza" party this weekend (more on that later) and it was a big hit.

You could certainly use your favorite store bought peanut sauce, but I used San-J Thai Peanut Sauce.  I will admit that I first started using it because it was the only one my store carried, but after trying multiple brands it is my favorite.

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Brown Sugar Pear Sauce

Perfect Pairing:  Sandwiches and Ice Cream

Oh man, this sauce.  It is good, really good.  How can you go wrong with brown sugar, pears, and rum?  You can’t.  It is fantastic on all sorts of things, including a spoon.

I made grilled sandwiches with roasted turkey, brie, and the pear sauce.  I pulled the pears out of the sauce with a fork before layering them on the sandwiches so that I did not have a complete mess.  A good amount of the sauce clings to the pears but you could also drizzle a little extra over the top if you are feeling... saucy.

So good.

My mom served the sauce on ice cream.  She poured the warm pear sauce over good vanilla ice cream and topped the whole thing off with a few salted pecans.  Yep, that works too.

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Greek Turkey Burgers

Perfect Pairing: Tzatziki Sauce

Back in early December Chicago had a freakishly warm day in the upper 60s.  It was the perfect day to put up my outdoor Christmas lights.  I figured since I was going to be outside all day I should finish the day with something on the grill.  I bought flank steak and let it marinate all day.  I was feeling pretty good about myself. I had spent about 90 minutes untangling lights and was up and down the ladder approximately 40 times before it was all said and done.  Everything looked great and I was excited for the programmable timer to kick in so I could see everything twinkling. 

When I tried to light my grill for dinner, nothing happened.  I let out a very loud sigh and hightailed it to Home Depot for a new gas tank.  I got the new tank on the grill and tried to light it again.  Nada.  It was right about this time that my nifty programmable timer should have been kicking on.  Nada squared.  Oh I was in a state.  I was dangerously close to having a super girly meltdown in my front yard. 

I pulled myself together and figured out the timer and enjoyed the lights for a moment before moving to the grill.  I spent about 30 minutes trying to get it going but had no success.  I gave it up in fear of blowing something up by leaving the gas on too long, and made flank steak on my grill pan inside.  I think that might be one of the most frustrating things to have a dinner planned on the grill and it will not work.

When my parents came for a visit in March I gave my dad the job of fixing this faulty grill.  I was convinced I was going to be buying a new one.  Nope.  My dad spent 20 seconds outside and got it going.  Farmers, they can fix everything.  I don’t even care now what happened, I’m just so glad it works! 

Now that we are entering grilling season, and I have an operational grill, I was excited to start cooking outside again!  My first spring dinner was Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce and grilled vegetables.  It was outstanding, if I do say so myself!  The burgers are made with lean turkey (I used 93% lean), frozen chopped spinach, and crumbled feta.  They are so flavorful and healthy! 

Rather than topping the burgers with the standard ketchup and mustard I whipped up a tzatziki sauce with fat free Greek yogurt.  It was the perfect accompaniment!  I will totally be making these again on my fully functional grill this summer. 

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Baked Vegetarian Egg Rolls

Perfect Pairing:  Simple Dipping Sauce

Recently I had a taste for egg rolls.  If you know me you know that means I am going to try to make them myself rather than get them from a restaurant like most normal people.  In this instance I wanted to make a healthier version, and I knew that was not coming from my local Chinese take-out place.  While the baked version is not exactly like the fried variety, they are still really tasty and crispy.  I went with an all vegetarian filling of mushrooms, cabbage, and canned stir fry vegetables.  My original plan was to use water chestnuts but at the store I saw a can of stir fry veggies (water chestnuts, bamboo, mini corn, etc.) and used that instead.  If you can't find that combo water chestnuts would be perfect.  Everything is seasoned with soy and hoisin sauce, which is like an Asian barbeque sauce. 

It is probably not a shocker to hear that I am not the best person to give egg roll wrapping lessons.  Well, I am going to do it anyway.

Wonton wrappers dry out easily, so I cover them with a damp paper towel while I work.

Place the wrapper with the point away from you and add your filling towards the bottom.

 Bring up the bottom corner

Tuck in the sides.   This is especially important if you are frying egg rolls because you don’t want the oil to soak the insides.

 Secure with a dab of water

 Line them up like soldiers

I made this really simple dipping sauce for serving.  I followed the recipe exactly, except I replaced the red pepper flakes with chili garlic sauce.

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Turkey Meatball Sandwiches

Perfect Pairing:  Hollowed out bread

Dude food.   That is what I think of when I think about meatball sandwiches.  They are quite manly.  Oh, I also think of Joey Tribbiani on Friends.  He had a thing for meatball sandwiches.  I would love to cook for Joey.  I think he would like anything I put in front of him. 

Even though I made these for my cousin, who is definitely a dude, I did have to girly-up the sandwiches a little bit.  I don’t think he noticed.  I substituted lean ground turkey for beef, or whatever they use in normal meatballs.  In addition, I used a small amount of hot Italian pork sausage.  It added a ton of flavor without much added fat.

I made my own sauce with just a few ingredients, but you could easily substitute your favorite store bought sauce. 

When I was putting the sandwiches together I realized it was a lot of bread.  I made the bread “skinny” by tearing out the soft insides to save on calories.  Thank you Potbelly’s for the idea!  You really don’t miss the extra bread and it makes the sandwich easier to handle.

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Apple Cake with Warm Caramel Sauce

Perfect Pairing: Whipped cream

I think it is fair to say that some of the best recipes come from our grandmas and grandma’s friends.  Am I right?  My mom got this recipe from her mother’s friend years and years ago.  The recipe card is yellowed with age.   I think that this might be the best fall dessert ever.  Seriously.  It is amazing.  You know the famous book, How to Win Friends & Influence People?  You don’t need that book, just this recipe. 

I can hardly believe Thanksgiving is a week away!  This apple cake would be a perfect way to round out your holiday dessert table.

When the first fall weather hit my mom wanted to make apple cake.  My parents were in the process of moving and she had no idea where her recipe cards were, probably in a storage unit somewhere miles away.  She decided to make a cake that she saw made on the Food Network by a certain gorgeous Italian vixen.  Well it didn’t go over well.  Apparently it was not good at all and my dad told her to throw away the recipe.  This coming from the man who could win the eating section on Fear Factor meant it was really not good.  He likes everything!  Lesson learned, stick with the original family recipe. 

I learned another lesson with this dessert.  The original sauce recipe said to use cream or milk.  When I went to make the sauce I figured I could use evaporated milk instead of normal milk, and if that worked why not use fat free evaporated milk?  BAD idea.  It still tasted great but was not pretty.  After a little experimenting with an immersion blender it was just right, but not worth the work.  Just use whole milk or cream. Mmmm K?  Trust me.

 The Perfect Pairing for this apple cake with warm caramel sauce is whipped cream.  Why not?  Just do it. 

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Garlic and Herb Cheese Crostini with Summer Tomato Sauce

Perfect Pairing:  Cooking spray

If you go to my recipes link you will notice that the area with the most recipes is the appetizer section.  I don’t know if this is because usually I make multiple appetizers at once for a party, or if I just really like appetizers. 

Today I am adding another great recipe to that section.  I can’t say enough good things about this tasty little canapé.  I love the Summer Tomato Sauce I wrote about last September and wanted to re-purpose it for use in an appetizer.  It is so good on this cheesy crostini.  The bread is toasty, the cheese is creamy, and the sauce is sweet and full of summer flavors.  It is a cinch to make and will be a hit at any party.  I served it up before Easter dinner and the platter was empty in minutes.

The Perfect Pairing for this recipe is good old cooking spray.  I used to brush my bread slices with olive oil to crisp them up but a coating of cooking spray will do the same thing, and it is a lot easier.

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Pickled Red Onions

Perfect Pairing:  Non-reactive pan

Do you ever feel like your salads need a boost?  That sounds like the start of an infomercial.  I admit to having a weird fascination with infomercials.  I am not inclined to buy anything, but I enjoy watching people get excited over cleaning products and sandwich griddles.  Call it a guilty pleasure.

Back to the boring salads...  I always like to add some sort of onion (sweet, red, green, etc.) to my salads but I don’t love the pungency of raw onion.  Pickled red onions are a great alternative because they still have the onion flavor but it is tempered by the vinegar and sugar.

I have no experience with pickling anything, so when I went searching for a pickled onion recipe I was pleased to see that not all pickle recipes require sterilizing jars and resting time.  This recipe is done in minutes and lasts for weeks in the refrigerator.  They are not only great on salads, but also sandwiches, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc.

The base of the recipe is red onions, white vinegar, sugar, and salt.  You can add other seasonings based on your tastes.   I use a combination of allspice berries, bay leaves, cloves, and hot peppers.  The pickling juice is also great mixed with olive oil for a quick dressing.

The Perfect Pairing for pickled red onions is a non-reactive pan.  A non-reactive pan would be stainless steel rather than aluminum or copper.  I am not going to claim to understand the science behind it; I just know you don’t want your pickled onions to taste like a pickled tin can when you are done.  If you want to know more, this article is informative.

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Lemon Yogurt Cake

Perfect Pairing:  Blueberry Sauce

I love cooking.  I have a blog dedicated to the fact that I love cooking and sharing recipes with people.  I could spend hours going through cookbooks and cooking magazines.  I will spend a ridiculous amount of time picking out the perfect menu for an occasion, and I thoroughly enjoy every moment of it.  Chopping, stirring, grating, and prepping are all therapeutic to me.

Food photography is a different story.  I often find myself frustrated over lighting, props, and backgrounds.  There have been a few great recipes that I would love to share, but when I try to photograph the finished product the picture just does not do it justice.  I end up not posting the recipe until I can make it again and try the photo in a different environment.   I recently made a French onion fondue appetizer that was very tasty.  I loved the recipe and flavor, but oh my goodness the picture was not good.  Hopefully I will be able to figure out a different way to photograph it because I do want to share that recipe.

Desserts are my friend when it comes to photography.  I don’t know why, but they always seem much more photogenic than a soup or salad.  Maybe it is that many desserts have structure and pretty colors and lines.  I have come to enjoy shooting sweets.  This cake was a good example. I just think it looks so pretty and feminine.  I imagine distinguished ladies enjoying it after lunch with a glass of tea. 

This lemon yogurt cake recipe came from the Barefoot Contessa.  Since baking is almost a scientific formula, I did not make many deviations from her recipe.  I did choose to use 0% fat Greek yogurt instead of whole milk yogurt.  It turned out beautifully.  It was light and refreshing.  I had some leftover, so I sliced it and wrapped each individual piece in plastic wrap and froze the slices in a Ziploc.  It was still delicious after being frozen.

The Perfect Pairing for this cake is homemade blueberry sauce.  The sauce is simple to prepare and absolutely divine.  The berries were a great compliment to the lemon cake.  I am pretty sure this sauce would be great on anything.  I stirred some into my morning oatmeal and that was pretty awesome.

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Onion Jam

Perfect Pairing:  Grilled flank steak

Everyone is familiar with strawberry, grape, and raspberry jam.  The more adventurous eater may also be a fan of apple or even pepper jam, but what about onion jam?  Onion jam??  Oh yes my friend…. Embrace it.  This onion jam even has bacon. 

I made this recipe on Christmas for my family.  I don’t think everyone was sold when I told them what I was making, but when it came time for dinner, everyone loved it.  This jam is sweet from the sugar in the onions, apple cider, and brown sugar.  It has a savory depth to it from the bacon and thyme.  It is pretty much all around delicious.  Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to cook the onions down to a jam-like consistency.  I let them reduce for at least four hours. 

The Perfect Pairing for onion jam is grilled flank steak, which is how I served it on Christmas.  The flank steak was seasoned with salt and pepper, grilled until medium rare, and then thinly sliced.  Top off the slices with a good dollop of this jam and you have a true perfect pairing.  I admit that my serving may have had more jam than meat, and I was totally ok with that.  If you have some jam leftover serve it alongside some cheese and crackers.  We added our leftovers to a cheese tray the next day and it was the first thing gone from the buffet.

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Homemade Barbeque Sauce

Perfect Pairing: Empty ketchup bottles

I am a little spoiled when it comes to a couple food items.  Growing up my mom always made homemade applesauce and homemade barbeque sauce, and the store-bought equivalents just do not compare!  My mom’s BBQ sauce is the perfect mixture of spicy, sweet and tang.  It is a great sauce for grilled chicken, pork or even as a dip for grilled cheese.  I have also used it on pizza crust instead of pizza sauce.  Top the pizza with shredded pork or chicken, green onions and cheddar cheese.  Tasty stuff.  We usually double the recipe since it takes no added effort and it keeps well in the refrigerator.

The Perfect Pairing for this sauce is the ketchup bottle you just emptied to make the sauce.  You don’t even have to rinse it out, just use a funnel and add your special sauce right into the bottle.  It is the perfect container for homemade sauce!  You can see we added a nice fancy label to eliminate any confusion when reaching into the fridge.

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