Sunday Brunch!

May 4, 2009 by 47 Comments

If your not a brunch person you will be after you see Gale Gand’s new cookbook, “Gale Gand’s Brunch”. The other day I had about a half hour to kill before an appointment so I walked into Barnes and Noble bookstore and was immediately drawn to the cover of her new book. One look at the cover and I knew I was going to make this for brunch on Sunday!

Baked eggs, fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and pesto all wrapped up in a pretty little package of smokey ham. I quickly scribbled down the recipe on the back of a receipt I had in my purse.

This was so simple to make and the flavors blended perfectly together, it’s great for a Sunday morning, or a nice brunch party. I don’t have the recipe word for word but basically you take a muffin tin and butter it, purchase the biggest piece of ham you can find at the deli, fold it in half, and half again and fan it out into the tin.

Place a dollop of pesto on the bottom, gently crack and egg on top, one egg worked for me better, but Gale used two. Tuck a couple of cubes of fresh mozzarella on the side and a cherry tomato. Bake in a 375F oven for about 20 minutes, but mine actually took about a half hour.

When cooked through remove from muffin tin, place in a bowl and put another dollop of pesto on top! I’m telling you this is so good, give it a try! We loved it so much, and can’t wait to make it again! I need to get this book, she also has a great breakfast torta I’m dying to try!
Buon appetito!

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47 Comments Filed Under: Eggs Tagged: ,

Shrimp… Simple, Quick, and a little Fancy

April 28, 2009 by 45 Comments

I always keep a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer, I like it for the convenience when I don’t have time to run out and get fresh, it’s easy to defrost, and it makes for a very quick dinner, and besides for a minimal amount of money I can get a few meals out of one bag. I think I paid $11.00 dollars for a 2 pound bag of jumbo cleaned and deveined ready to cook shrimp, you can’t beat that! Here’s a couple of my favorite ways to prepare it.

Bucatini with Shrimp and Roasted Tomato sauce
1.Roast your tomatoes at 400F till all of the juices burst out, remove from oven. I used those Campari tomatoes on the vine, cut in half drizzled with olive oil, S&P.
2.While tomatoes are roasting saute some shaved garlic in olive oil and toss your shrimp in there, remove when they’re almost done.
3. Toss in some white wine, reduce a little and scrape all the tomatoes and every bit of the juices into the pan,
4. Add back your shrimp, toss in some chopped basil, and blend it all with your favorite pasta, bucatini works well with this.

Shrimp Aragonate

This is baked stuffed shrimp, with tons of flavor, this is a great dish for a party too. You can make a huge pan of these, or just a few, to go along with a steak as a surf and turf.

1.Preheat oven to 450F. Oil a large baking pan.
2.In a medium bowl, combine bread crumbs, fresh or panko, fresh parsley, and crushed garlic (don’t be shy). Stir in olive oil to moisten the crumbs.
3.Arrange the shrimp single layer, curling each shrimp into a circle. Spoon a little of the bread crumb mixture onto each shrimp. Drizzle a little more olive oil on before baking.
4.Bake until the crumbs are browned and the shrimp are cooked through when cut in the thickest part, about ten minutes.
4.Serve hot or at room temperature, with lemon wedges.
Recipe adapted from, “Entertaining with the Soprano’s”

Its been so nice to see and smell spring flowers popping up all over, here’s some I have popping up around my house. I just love the smell of hyacinths!

Have a great week, and Buon Appetito!
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Grilled Rack of Pork with Pomegranate Glaze

April 24, 2009 by 28 Comments

I’ve seen so many great recipes floating around in the blogosphere using POM Wonderful, I was fortunate enough to receive a case of this wonder juice myself. After holding on to it for a while, drinking some and giving some away, I decided to make a glaze with it. Seeing that its BBQ season again ( yipee!) I thought it would be perfect with some grilled meats. Well let me just say, it was!

I grilled and seasoned my rack of pork, with garlic, rosemary and thyme, and at the last 15 minutes I brushed a little glaze all over. After it rested for about 10 minutes I drizzled more of this beautiful colored glaze on top. I served it with some whole wheat couscous, and a raw kale salad made with fresh lemon, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese.

This stuff is like a superpower!! 100% pomegranate juice, the health benefits are amazing! Just look at that color, doesn’t it just scream ANTIOXIDANTS?

Reducing this down makes the most delicious glaze! This recipe was adapted from the
Everyday Food site.

POMEGRANATE GLAZE
2 Cups Pomegranate Juice
1 Cup of Orange Juice
1 t. Dried Rosemary
3 Smashed Garlic Cloves
2 t. of Red Wine Vinegar
Salt & Pepper

In a large skillet combine everything, boil on high reducing in half while scraping down sides of skillet with a wooden spoon or a heatproof spatula. After it thickens up a little strain everything through a fine mesh strainer. After I did that, I thickened it up even more. When finished, stir in 2 t. of red wine vinegar. Store leftover glaze in the frig.

For tons of ideas and recipes, and the many health benefits of this wonder juice go here.

Have a great weekend, and Buon Appetito!!

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