Croque Monsieur

Croque Monsieur is comfort food at it's finest. It is creamy, cheesy and crunchy all at the same time and I can safely say that healthy goes out the window on this french sandwich. If you are craving something satisfying and rich then this is right up your alley.
It is great to make when you are having someone over for lunch and don't want to make a full on meal, but also don't want to give them PB and J. But that doesn't mean you can't use it as breakfast, brunch or dinner too. Balance the richness out with some fresh fruit and a salad and you've got yourself a meal.

INGREDIENTS

For Sauce:
2 tbs. butter
2 tbs. all purpose flour
1 c. whole milk

1 tsp. nutmeg

dash cayenne pepper

8 thick slices rustic bread (Country Bread, Sourdough, Brioche)

12 slices ham

1/2 c. grated gruyere, plus 8 slices gruyere

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk for about a minute. Slowly add milk and continue to whisk until thickened, about 2 minutes. Season with nutmeg and cayenne. Add 1/4 c. grated gruyere, stir until melted.
3. Place 4 pieces of bread on baking sheet. Top each piece with about a 1/4 cup of your sauce you just made. Next add a slice of ham then a slice of gruyere, followed by another slice of ham and another slice of gruyere. Put the other piece of bread on your sandwhich. Add more sauce, about 1/4 c. or so (depending how much you have left). Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 c. of grated gruyere on top of all four sandwhiches.
4. Place baking sheet in oven. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until cheese melts, sauce is bubbly and bread looks toasty.

A Pizza For Popeye - Spinach Pizza

We all know that Popeye loves two things: spinach and Olive Oil. So it makes sense that this recipe contains both. My Spinach Pizza is inspired by a recipe that I found on Martha Stewart's website for Popeye Pizza (which was shared with her by Chef Jim Lahey).
The name of the recipe conjured up my memories of watching Popeye as a kid. I thought he was cool and he definitely made me want to eat spinach. Although, I just watched a Popeye episode on YouTube and I now realize that he could have just as easily made me want to smoke pipes and punch people out (glad I just picked up on the spinach part).  Here's an episode to put you in the mood to make Spinach Pizza.

This recipe is different than the one I found on Martha Stewart's website. If you want Jim Lahey's exact recipe, click on the above link.


SPINACH PIZZA

INGREDIENTS

Pizza Dough:

3 c. flour

1/4 c. olive oil (plus few tbs. extra for bowl and pan)

1 c. warm water (90-100 F)

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 (1/4 oz packages) or 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

2 tsp. sugar

Topping:
3 c. fresh spinach leaves, stems removed
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 1/2 c. grated mozzarella cheese
1 c. grated Romano Pecorino or other hard cheese ( such as Asiago and Gruyere)
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. kosher salt
2-3 tbs. extra virgin olive oil

Pizza Dough:

1. Proof your yeast by placing warm water, yeast and sugar into a small bowl. Let sit until frothy, about 3-5 minutes. If it doesn't get frothy then your yeast is dead or your water is too hot or cool and you'll have to start again.
2. Place flour, salt, olive oil and yeast mixture into a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix by hand or with your paddle attachment on your stand mixer on low until dough just begins to form into a ball. If dough remains sticky, add flour a tbs. at a time until ball forms. If dough is too shaggy or dry add water a tbs. at a time until ball forms.

3. Knead dough by hand or with hook attachment on stand mixer for about 10-12 minutes. Dough should be stretchy and not tear easily. Test by taking a small piece, balling it up then stretching it a little, if it tears knead for a few minutes longer. Roll your dough into a ball, place it into a large bowl. Add a couple of tsp. of oil to the bowl and roll the ball in the oil.

4. Cover with plastic wrap, place in a warm place and let rise for 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.    

NOTE: if you would like to make your dough whole wheat, replace half of the flour with whole wheat flour and let the dough rise twice. After it rises the first time, punch it down and let it double in size a second time.

Making the Pizza:

1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. On a floured surface, stretch your dough by hand or roll it out with a rolling pin until it is a circular shape with a 14" radius and about 1/8" thick (a bit thicker at the crust).  Place on pan lightly oiled with olive oil (if you don't have a pizza pan, use any pan that your pizza will fit onto or change the shape of your pizza to fit a pan, you can also use a preheated pizza stone). 

2. Spread garlic slices evenly onto dough, followed by the black pepper. Next come the cheeses, mozzarella, then the romano. Then the spinach which gets sprinkled with the salt. (Hold off on the olive oil until the pizza comes out of the oven.)  

3. Place pizza in oven for 10-12 minutes, the spinach should wilt and the crust should be browned. Then drizzle olive oil over the pizza and cut into pieces.

Broccoli Calzone

Mmmm broccoli! Most people don't rave about broccoli, but if you make this recipe you will be singing it's praises.

These are a good way to get picky kids or adults to eat broccoli. My daughter loves vegetables and my son has to be coaxed to eat them at times. So it is nice to have veggies infused into a meal and not just on the side.

To make this a simpler recipe you can buy premade pizza dough at the store. Dough made from scratch will take 2-3 hours to be ready so you will need to plan ahead. These calzones also taste great when dipped in tomato sauce.

INGREDIENTS

Pizza Dough:

6 c. flour

1/4 c. olive oil 

2 1/2 c. lukewarm water

2 tsp. kosher salt

1 (1/4 oz packages) or 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

1 tbs. sugar

Filling:

4 c. chopped broccoli florets fresh or frozen

3 tbs. olive oil

 4 garlic cloves, diced small

2 c. ricotta cheese    (if you want to make fresh ricotta click here for my homemade ricotta recipe)

1 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese shredded

salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

Pizza Dough:

1. Place flour and salt in a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Add lukewarm water, yeast, sugar, and olive oil. Mix by hand or with your paddle attachment on your stand mixer on low until dough just begins to form into a ball. If dough remains sticky, add flour a tbs. at a time until ball forms. If dough is too shaggy or dry add water a tbs. at a time until ball forms.

2. Knead dough by hand or with hook attachment on stand mixer for about 15-20 minutes. Dough should be stretchy and not tear easily. Test by taking a small piece, balling it up then stretching it out, if it tears knead for a few minutes longer. If it stretches thin without tearing, roll your dough into a ball, place it into a large bowl. Add a couple of tsp. of oil to the bowl and roll the ball in the oil.

3. Cover with plastic wrap, place in a warm place and let rise for 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.    

NOTE: if you would like to make your dough whole wheat, replace half of the flour with whole wheat flour and let the dough rise twice. After it rises the first time, punch it down and let it double in size a second time.

Calzones:

1. Place broccoli,  garlic and 3 tbs. olive oil in a large sauce pan. Put on burner set to medium heat, cover with lid. Let cook for about 10-15 minutes, until the broccoli becomes tender. Season with salt and pepper, to your taste. I use about a tsp. of each. 

2. Place ricotta and shredded mozzarella in a large bowl. Once broccoli has cooled add it to the cheeses and mix together. 

3. On a surface that has been dusted with flour, cut dough into 6-8 equal pieces (depending on how big you want your calzone). Roll or stretch your dough into circles, getting the dough as thin as you can get it without tearing. If the dough becomes difficult to work with, let it rest for a few minutes and try again.

4. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Grease 2 sheet pans.

5. Add 2-3 tbs. of filling to the center of your dough. Give yourself about an inch of space between the filling and the outer edge. Fold your circle in half so that the edges meet, pinch the edges shut with your fingers. Don't leave any gaps for the filling to ooze out of. Cut one or two slits in the top of calzone with a knife. Gently lift them from your work surface and place on pans. Place pans in the oven and bake until golden, about 25 minutes.

Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi

These gnocchi don't actually have any potato, so you could argue that these aren't gnocchi at all - in that regard, they are probably more like dumplings. Whatever you want call them they are amazingly yummy and they don't make for an overly heavy meal. The herbs add a burst of flavor and you can use any herbs that you have on hand and experiment for a slightly different outcome every time. These are great coated with sage butter, I have included the sage butter "recipe" as well below, although it is basically butter and sage heated in the same pan. In preparation, be sure to handle the mixture with care to achieve lighter, fluffier results. 

INGREDIENTS

6 garlic cloves, peeled

2-3 sprigs mixed fresh herbs, such as parsley, basil, thyme, coriander or chives, finely chopped (choose whatever combination you like or have on hand, my favorite parsley and thyme)

2 c. fresh spinach leaves, washed and dried

1 egg yolk

1 c. plus 2 tbs. ricotta cheese

1/3 c. grated parmesan cheese

2/3 c. flour

DIRECTIONS

1. Place Garlic, herbs and spinach in food processor and blend well.

2. Place the ricotta in a bowl and beat in the egg yolk and spinach/herb/garlic mixture. Stir in half of the parmesan, sift in the flour and mix well.

3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

4. Using floured hands, break off pieces of the mixture slightly smaller than a walnut and gently roll into balls

      5. Carefully add the gnocchi 8-10 at a time to the boiling water. When they rise to the top of the pan, they are cooked. This should take about 3 minutes. (they should be light and fluffy all the way through, if not put back into the pot for another minute). Drain WELL.

      6. Serve with your favorite sauce or try sage butter recipe below (trust me, the sage butter is a hit).    

  

SAGE BUTTER

1/4 c. butter

2 tbs. fresh sage, chopped

      Melt butter over low heat for 1 minute in frying pan and add the sage.     

      Add the gnocchi to the pan and toss in the butter (keep the heat low) for 1 minute until coated. Then serve with grated parmesan.

Eggplant Parm Patties

I was raised on eggplant - which is probably why I get the itch to make it every once in a while. This time around, I wanted to try something different so I created a new way of making eggplant parmesan so that my kids would eat it more readily.  I told my daughter that they were purple eggplant burgers without the bun and she gobbled it up. Her favorite color is purple, so that's why I threw the purple part in. We ate this with purple grapes and carrots for dinner and it was a hit.
You can make these with or without the eggplant skin, depending on how bitter of a taste you are comfortable with. I usually peel the skin off with a vegetable peeler, but if I were making it just for myself I'd leave the skin on (you can really taste the eggplant that way).

makes 8 patties

INGREDIENTS
1 large eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch slices (with or without skin)
2 tbs. olive oil, plus enough to shallow fry the patties
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 garlic cloves, crushed and diced
4 tbs. chopped fresh parsley (or basil)
2 1/2 c. fresh wheat bread crumbs
1 c. grated parmesan
1 c. ricotta cheese
2-3 tbs. milk
1-2 c. your favorite tomato sauce to put on top of finished patty

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Brush the eggplant with the 2 tbs. olive oil, then place them on a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes until golden and tender.
2. Chop the slices into smaller pieces and place them in a bowl. Add the egg, garlic, parsley, parmesan and ricotta. If the mixture looks dry add the milk 1 tbs at a time until it is moist and moldable.
3. Divide the mixture into eight balls and flatten them slightly.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Leave the mixture to rest for about 20 minutes.
4. Shallow fry the patties in olive oil, on low to medium heat so that the oil doesn't smoke. Cook in batches for 1-2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and serve with a dallop of tomato sauce on top.