Grilling - Pizzas and Corn Pesto

Pizza 1

Now that I’ve already made the Gnudi, I had to venture back to pizza this week. I never make the same pizza twice because I constantly have different ingredients on hand for cheese, sauces and toppings. As I’m obsessed with the crust, and I truly believe that good, crispy, chewy crust is the basis for a great pizza, I always make my own pizza dough. I’ve included my recipe below and like my Grilled Corn Pesto recipe, it makes a lot, so just freeze what you don’t use. I’m much like my mother when it comes to cooking because she never new how to feed a few people, she could only cook to feed a crowd. I’ve learned to use the freezer for any leftovers or for an abundance of fresh produce, and you should see how full my freezer is all of the time. I do go through it everyday though to embark on my next adventurous meal. I really should get a deep freezer sometime in the next century.

As I digress, I usually make two different pizzas because I like variety, so these were the pizzas that I made this week: 1) sauce – parsley walnut pesto; cheeses – asiago, fontina, feta; toppings – fresh tomatoes and shredded chicken breast 2) sauce – ricotta with cilantro, garlic and jalapeño; cheese – asiago; toppings – sauté of caramelized onion, garlic, honey, red wine vinegar and dukkah (I’ll add a recipe for this in a later posting), shredded chicken and a sliced peach. Shhhhh…..I took one from my neighbors peach tree. It fell right in front of me! I also grilled both pizzas instead of baking them in the oven because it’s summer and I love to grill just about anything at the moment. I know the second pizza sounds a bit unusual, but that one was the favorite amongst my usual crowd Montana, Paris, and Valpo . I love savory sweet anything, so I had to take advantage of the peach that wanted me to eat it!

Pizza 2

Pizza Crust

(makes 5-6 pizzas)

2tbsp 2tsp Instant Yeast

8 cups AP flour (or do a mix of 5 ½ cups AP flour and 2 ½ cups of whole wheat flour)

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp pepper

1 tbsp each dried basil, thyme, oregano (any Italian spices on hand), optional

3 tsp red pepper flakes, optional

2 tbsp olive oil

4 cups warm water

Mix all dry ingredients together in a big bowl. Grease another bowl. Pour water in dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Then place ball of dough on counter with bench flour and knead for about 8 minutes or until dough is soft, smooth and elastic. Place dough in greased bowl, cover with saran wrap and let it rise for at least 1 ½ hours or until double in size.

Cut up dough into 5 or 6 pieces. Sprinkle bench flour on counter and roll out each piece of dough.

Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees F. Top each pizza with your favorite ingredients. Bake in oven for 8-10 minutes.

Now for the Grilled Corn Pesto. Since grilling is much preferred, and corn is one of my favorite foods to eat right now, despite the fact that I have braces, I thought of making a pesto out of it. I am fanatical about pesto and replacing grilled corn for basil or parsley makes it just that much better. You can use this as a dip for bread, chips, crackers or even veggies, and you can put it on just about anything….pasta, sandwiches, tacos, eggs, or even invent a new pizza! I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do!!

Grilled Corn Pesto

Grilled Corn Pesto
5 ears corn, yellow or white, shucked

1 cup walnuts

1 ½ cups Asiago cheese, grated

4 cloves garlic, or less if you are not a fan

1/3 cup cilantro

1/3 – 1/2 cup olive oil

1 tsp Salt

1 ½ tsp pepper


Turn grill on low heat. Place shucked corn on grill and cook for 10 minutes, turning once and cook another 10 minutes. Allow to cool enough to handle.
While corn is grilling, place next 4 ingredients in food processor. With a chef knife, cut the kernels off of each cob. Place kernels in food processor, add 1/3 cup olive oil, salt and pepper. Process and add more olive oil if needed. Should have the consistency of a thick paste.

You Got the Right Stuff

ou got the right stuff, baby


Love the way you turn me on

You got the right stuff, baby

You’re the reason why I sing this song!

I know you are humming this song in your head right now and trying to remember the last time you heard it or maybe even what you were doing.  Yep, that's New Kid on the Block or later known as NKOTB and I'm sure you are wondering why in the world I am writing abouth them.  Well, it is because of a special event that I attended this past weekend that brought back some fond memories of my childhood. I went to my Grade School reunion and saw many of my old classmates, some who I haven’t seen in 20 years. This school was a little more unique than most of the other schools I was taught at because A. It’s a private Catholic school located in Conroe, TX and B. It was so small that we only had 13 kids (give or take 1 or 2 per year) in our grade and classroom for the 3 years that I attended in 3rd, 4th, and 6th grade. Where did the 5th go, well that’s when my family moved to Singapore for a year, so I spent it there. All 13 of us spent a great deal of time together and we had some truly fun childhood experiences, so this was one reunion that I wasn’t going to miss. (My High School reunion was gladly skipped.)  This get together was also meant to unite some of the other grades below us, so my sister, H-Town, came to the event as well, but only one other of her classmates was there.  Most of the attendees
were from our class.

The reunion was held at a charming ranch in New Waverly, TX that is owned by one of my classmate’s parents. It was the perfect backdrop for a little casual interaction with old friends. Not everyone could make the event, but we had a fairly good turn out, including our former 6th grade teacher, who still teaches at the school. I was really happy that I got to hang out with my childhood best friend, who I hardly ever see anymore.  In the future, I really want to make sure that we are better about visiting each other because she was a great part of my life when we were kids.  It’s also very surreal when you see your former grade school classmates all grown up, several with a spouse, like myself, and a few with children. Reminiscing on the good times we all had together was my favorite part of the occasion, especially when the pictures were brought out showing us in our uniforms learning attentively in the classroom, singing during choir lessons, dressed up in costumes for school plays, eating ice cream at lunch, playing around at a school carnival, and splashing around in a lake from our 6th grade graduation trip. Nothing but great recollections! We proceeded to take a tour of the property on a hay ride, which the kids really enjoyed, but the fun really got started when the kids were sent home for bed, and we all made our way to the barn! It had a dance floor and sound system. That’s all we needed to bust out the New Kids On the Block and dance the night away!  It definitely was a night to add to my Grade School memory database!
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Charrito's

LOCATION: 121 Washington St. Hoboken, NJ

CATEGORY: Mexican

FAVORITES: Guacamole, Salsa, and Stuffed Poblano Chile

COMMENTS: If you are looking for something fancy, then Charrito's is not for you. This restaurant is a small 9-table hole-in-the-wall restaurant with semi-authentic Mexican cuisine. The food here is definitely not TEX-MEX but is decent for the northeast. The guacamole is amazing and is made table-side, just like it's made in Texas! My favorite part about this restaurant is that it is BYOB. I went with my husband this past Friday and our bill was around $40 (+ 3 Buck Chuck wine from Trader Joe's = a total of $43) , which is considered a "cheap" dinner for two people in the New York City area.

Hillstone

LOCATION: 378 Park Avenue South (27th and Park), NYC

CATEGORY: American/Japanese

FAVORITES: Crab Cakes, Cod, and Pork Ribs

COMMENTS: Owned by the same company as Houston's, I knew that Hillstone would be delicious! I dined here with my husband and friends this past Saturday and the service/food/wine was impeccable! I ordered the crab cakes, which were made entirely of fresh crab that had a slight buttery crunch around the edges. I also had a chance to try the melt-in-your-mouth cod, yummy fall-off-the-bone ribs, and gigantic baked potato. Everything was succulent and perfectly cooked!

The dark lit restaurant has a romantic appeal and would be great for one-on-one dates and small groups. You cannot go wrong with this restaurant!

Artin's Grill - Toss the Knife Short Ribs

Succulent Short Ribs

Artin's Grill

http://www.artinsgrill.com/
Location: 5840 Legacy Circle, Plano, TX 75024

Rating: A

Category: Modern American

Pricing: $$$

Favorites: Short Ribs, Outdoor Seating


Comments:
After attending a financial planning engagement last night, we decided to try a restaurant that a friend of mine suggested named Artin’s Grill in Plano at the Shops at Legacy. The place was practically empty when we arrived, which is not usually a good sign considering the restaurants across the way were booming, but the service was very attentive. I'm also glad that we chose to sit outside because their patio has a fantastic view of the colorful watershow from the nearby fountain. It was already a little late and Montana had to wake up early for a big meeting the next morning, so we opted to have a fairly short and un-varietal meal. We chose the Short Ribs to split as our main course because that was what my friend had recommended, and they were incredible! The only time I used my knife during the night was to butter my bread because you certainly didn’t need it for these succulent short ribs. Absolutely perfectly fork tender with the right amount of blackened crust from the sear on the outside. On the other hand, I would have loved more of the cabernet pan sauce to mop up with my bread, and I wasn’t really a big fan of the Mac N Cheese that came with it because it reminded me more of a stroganoff.  I didn’t really care though because those short ribs had me at Chow! In general, I would return to Artin’s Grill just for those Short Ribs, but it’s so hard to go back anytime soon when you have a plethora of great places surrounding it!

Colorful Fountain View from Patio

Let's Get Gnudi

You are probably wondering right now 'What in the world is Gnudi?' Well, first I must explain the reason for making them. I have a habit of trying to recreate a dish that I fall in love with when I eat at restaurants. During my last visit to NYC this past month, we made a stop at Spotted Pig in West Village, and they are known for their Gnudi dish. I had no idea what Gnudi was, but that wasn’t going to stop me from trying it. We ordered, we ate, and I loved. Gnudi can be described as "ravioli filling without the pasta." They are made with a mixture of ricotta, parmesan, eggs and flour (sometimes spinach), then shaped into balls, boiled and topped with a sauce. After devouring them in NYC, I was on a mission to make them when I returned home.

Now, every week once a week, I have something that I normally call Pizza Night at our house, but this week we had Gnudi Night! I always invite Paris and our other good friend/Montana’s co-worker, Valpo, over for dinner, in which I usually make Pizza or sometimes Arepas (which I’ll explain on a different posting). This time I attempted to re-craft the delicious Gnudi from Spotted Pig. I have to say it wasn’t really that close, but they turned out great! I actually added spinach to the dough and I created a different tomato sauce with ground beef. They are a little time consuming when rolling them into balls, but completely worth it. A faster way to make them is to place the dough in a ziplock bag, cut off a corner and squeeze a small amount of dough into the boiling water, repeating until the bag is empty. I will do that the next time I make them. I used a recipe from Martha Stewart as a guide, but added my own touch. Here is my version of the recipe. I hope that you like it!



Ricotta and Spinach Gnudi with Tomato Meat Sauce

• 4 oz frozen spinach

• 1 large egg

• 3/4 cup ricotta cheese

• 3/4 cup grated Asiago cheese

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• ¼ cup onion, chopped

• ½ tsp salt

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• ¼ lb ground beef

• 1 can Don Pepino’s sauce, or any other favorite pasta sauce

• 2 tbsp fresh basil, torn

• Garnish with grated Asiago cheese



• Cook frozen spinach in microwave for 1-2 minutes or until thawed. Place spinach in a clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth, and squeeze to remove any remaining liquid. Transfer to a food processor, adding the egg, cheeses, ¼ cup flour, salt and pepper. Process until well combined.

• Mound the remaining ¾ cup of flour on a cutting board. Using floured hands, gently shape 1 tablespoon spinach mixture into a small ball. Drop it into the flour, and quickly roll to coat lightly. Transfer to a baking sheet. Repeat. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to cook (at least 30 minutes).

• Meanwhile, sauté onion and salt in olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add garlic and ground beef and cook until beef is brown. Add the can of Don Pepino’s and reduce heat to low, stirring occasionally.

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add gnudi, and stir gently to prevent them from sticking together. Cook until gnudi rise to, and remain on, surface, about 5 minutes.

• Use a slotted spoon to remove gnudi from water and transfer to a large bowl or plate.

• Stir in 2 tablespoons gnudi cooking water and basil to tomato sauce. Take off heat. Spoon sauce over Gnudi and top with Asiago cheese. Serve and Enjoy!

Gnudi formed into balls

Gnudi in boiling water

Cooked Gnudi

Finished Product!

Silk Road Thai Cuisine

Silk Road Thai Cuisine

http://www.silkroadrb.com/

Location: 6851 Virginia Parkway, McKinney, TX 75071

Rating: B-

Pricing: $$$

Category: Thai

Favorites: Chicken Satay, Outdoor Patio

Comments:

In honor of my husband, Matt's, recent promotion, I, Matt and our good friend Jason went out to eat at a restaurant we’ve been meaning to try in McKinney. It’s a new Thai restaurant called Silk Road and is located in a very convenient spot being just down the street from our home. Anxious to celebrate, we arrived at the restaurant around a farmer’s dinner time,6pm, but hey, it helped on the wallet some. They have Happy Hour specials from 5-7pm everyday and all day on Sundays! Since we were celebrating, we had to order a bottle of champagne first, which was not on the happy hour list. Having only 3 choices, cheapest, cheap and expensive, we thought to go in the middle and order cheap, but the bottle hadn’t been chilled and we didn’t want to wait, so we opted for cheapest, which had been chilled. I love the bubbly no matter the price!! We then ordered an appetizer on the happy hour menu, vegetable dumplings, and chicken satay (not on the happy hour menu). After diving in and finishing off the appetizers, which were good, but nothing majestic, we proceeded to order a bottle of red wine, and then the main course. Jason ordered the Crab Fried Rice, and Matt and I split the Chicken Pad Thai, extra chicken, extra spicy, as Matt always has to have that dish. He can’t go to any Thai restaurant without ordering Pad Thai. That’s his Standard! The portions were very large, which was great that we split the Pad Thai, but I would have wanted it little more peanut flavor, less sweet, and a bit spicier. It really didn’t have any kick to it, so we had to order more chilies. Other than that the food was rather decent. I have a couple of concerns though. The service was a tad sluggish, but that could have been because hardly anyone was in there. Sometimes an empty restaurant puts the staff in a bit of a leisurely pace, which brings me to unease, as well. I know that we arrived a little early, but we didn’t exactly dine and dash. We left slightly after 8pm, so the restaurant should have been busier than when we walked in, but it wasn’t. Overall though, I would go back. It’s close to our house, and their prices are very affordable, particularly their wine list. I really hope that Silk Road sticks around!!

Chicken Satay and Vegetable Dumplings

Chicken Pad Thai

Crab Fried Rice

Max's Wine Dive and Niko Niko's Greek - Houston

As my first post on our blog I thought it would be appropriate to write about my trip down to my hometown, Houston, this past weekend. My husband, myself, and our two dogs made the 4 hour trek down there to celebrate my youngest sister’s birthday and her moving back into the cute old house that she and my other sister, NYC, used to share. (Just to make it a little easier, I will start posting my youngest sister as H-town). I think we are all ecstatic that she is back in this house for a few reasons. First, it’s in a very convenient location residing within walking distance to a Starbucks, several restaurants, a grocery store, gas station, etc. When you are slightly hung-over on a Sunday morning and need a little pick me up before the long drive back to Big D, you need that very important cup of coffee to be within crawling distance. Furthermore, the locality is fantastic because some of the greatest places to eat and drink are dangerously close. The house is also much larger in size inside and out than H-town’s former tiny apartment, so there is plenty of room for my small bunch to stay, or if she wants to have a get-together with a few friends, like this past weekend. Finally, it is quite a sturdy little house because it supposedly doubled as a bomb shelter back in the nuclear war scare days. Both of my sisters, my mom and step father rode out Hurricane Ike in that house, and everyone came out fine, so it’s a little sentimental.

On another note, I always come prepared with my list of restaurants and bars that I would like to try when visiting any major city. This trip I was able to scratch off a couple of places. Friday night we were able to eat at Max’s Wine Dive, which according to Bon Appétit it is one of the top 10 wine bars in the US, so I had to make a stop there. We went in a good size group so we were able to try a few things on the menu. We started off with the Gator Beignets and the Pan Borracho aka Drunk Bread. I’ve really never liked gator because of its rubbery texture, and these were no exception to me, but they were a big hit among everyone else. The Pan Borracho came out in a gooey cheesy bubbly mess, which I was immediately excited to dive into, but it turned out to be nothing that amazing. It was exactly like fondue, but the texture of the bread was moosh and not very appetizing. As for the main course, we split the Sunchoke Gnocchi, which was incredible with a slight exception to the very large arugula salad on top. Less is more. No need to order our side salad when we had that mountain of a garden on top of our gnocchi. I can’t finish our night without saying that the wine list was impressive and not too pricey. They also had a great wine tasting deal going on that was quite hard to pass up. I definitely recommend stopping here for some late night munching and a few glasses of vino!

BV Wine at Max's

Sunchoke Gnocchi at Max's

                                                   

Saturday I reserved for trying this Greek restaurant that’s been on the show Diners Drive-Ins and Dives called Niko Nikos. For drinks, we all had to try the Niko Rita (not that spectacular) and we started our lunch with nothing other than the hummus with pita bread. It was everything that hummus should be, which must have a creamy, velvety texture, and sitting in a small pool of olive oil with a few garnishes of olives, cucumbers and bell peppers on top. Absolutely delicious! I had no idea that we were getting a small Greek salad as well, but I think it came with H-towns main course. It was your typical Greek salad until you got a chunk of the feta cheese, which was incredibly moist and had the perfect amount of that salty tanginess to it. My husband and I ordered the Gyro Sandwich, which I know is kind of unoriginal, but when visiting a Greek restaurant for the first time, you must find out what the Gyro tastes like before moving onto anything else. My sister, on the other hand, was a little more adventurous and ordered the Spanikopita, which I had a little bite of, and it was like lasagna on crack. Absolutely amazing! The Gyro was also impressive. I was amazed by the cooling effect that the tzatziki sauce had on top of the sizzling lamb and beef bits inside the warm pita bread. One note though is don’t order the rice. It’s fairly boring or maybe it’s because I’m not much of a rice lover. Overall though Niko Niko’s is definitely a repeater!

                                      Hummus                                                                                    The Gyro

The rest of Saturday was mostly spent celebrating at my sister’s house and visiting with old and new friends and my family. We had a great time! Sunday, we slowly crawled out of bed, regretting the amount of alcohol we consumed the night before, but on a mission to have some grub before our drive back to Big D. I wanted to go to Avalon Diner in River Oaks, but we left after looking at the wait, so we ended up at one of my favorite spots for Brunch, Hungry’s in Rice Village. One of my old good friends from college met up with us as well. Congrats to her because she recently got engaged! She also had a great story to tell about how her family rented a catamaran sailboat and they basically island hopped throughout the Virgin Islands. It is something that I now have put on my list of things to do in the near future because it sounds spectacular! I know… my husband has made it quite clear that my aspirations are becoming relatively expensive! To end on a humorous level, during our drive back we witnessed a very large yellow truck pass us by with an especially classy sticker on the back of it. Only in Texas!

Fire Island

Having come from Texas and now living in New York City, a Long Island weekend getaway was never on my list of things to do but a quaint beach town called "Fire Island" was something pleasantly unexpected. I arrived on Saturday morning by ferry to a car-free town called Ocean Beach. This island town featured a cute little village with pretty boutiques, ice cream shops, and fine restaurants that turn into clubs by night. Little houses on the island are labeled with beach-themed names and are surrounded by sidewalks that people use to travel around either by foot, bicycle, or golf cart.

The scene of this town was definitely unexpected! It ranged from Long Island guidos to college students and families with young children. The beaches were nice and clean but the water, as always around here, was freezing!

I didn't get to try out the restaurants, since we grilled out and ate in, but I do have to say that the seafood menus around town looked very appetizing.

Since I stayed with friends in a beach house, we did the usual routine for young adults on the island, such as lay out at the beach, eat, drink, and go bar hopping. The bars were a different experience from any laid back beach town; it was filled with overly drunk guidos, party music, and rude bar tenders that tell you what drinks they will and will not serve to you.

All in all, this beach town was very cute and I would go back but try to steer clear of the crowded drunken guido bars.