Call me Xerox: (MUSHROOM-ARTICHOKE CHEESECAKE)

Synonyms for original

Sense 1: First (vs. last)
Sense 2: Primary (vs. secondary)
Sense 3: (vs. unoriginal) avant-garde, daring, freehand, freehanded, fresh, new, novel, germinal, originative, innovational, groundbreaking, newfangled, new, underivative

Not me unfortunately. I'm at it again. Not original and making something mine from someone's else's recipe. So to begin, I really enjoyed the Zucchini-Ricotta cheesecake (101 cookbooks) and wanted to make a variation, again. It's not novel, first, or avant-garde but it's mine-ish. I LOVE mushrooms so I wanted to make a Mushroom and Artichoke cheesecake. I needed the proportions (egg and ricotta amounts) so that's why I feel like a poser. I also wanted the goat cheese IN the cheesecake this time to see how that tastes too.

Mushroom Cheescake:

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. real butter
10 oz. sliced button mushrooms (I used Crimini)
1/4 cup sour cream
3 eggs
1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
2/3 cup crumbled goat cheese
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint
2 Tbsp. chopped garlic
1/4 cup sliced shallots
1 1/2 cup diced marinated artichokes
1/3 cup chopped roasted red pepper (jarred is great too)

1 tsp. lemon zest

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and spray a 7" Springform pan with oil.

2. In a large frying pan, over medium heat, brown the mushrooms in the olive oil and butter. Cook the mushrooms, stirring constantly, until they are "dry" and aren't juicy in the pan. Let cool.

3. Beat the eggs with the sour cream until fully incorporated. Add the parmesan, ricotta, and goat cheese. Stir well.

4. Add the oregano, mint, garlic, lemon zest, and shallots.

5. Add the artichokes, cooled mushrooms, and red pepper. Stir everything together well.

6. Put mixture in oiled Springform pan and place on a layer of aluminum foil to prevent any possible leaks from the bottom.

7. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes (an eeeensie jiggling in the middle).

8. Allow to cool in pan. Remove sides of Springform pan and slice. Have a glass of Chardonnay.

Jennay's: (LAURA'S S'MORES)

We have a crab feast to go to this weekend. Sigh, I know, another one. Poor me. Once I get started eating crabs I don't stop until I'm bursting. Have to have, yet again, cider vinegar and Old bay for dipping. I just can't stand how I smell after I'm through though. Lasts for hours. I tried lemon but it really doesn't work. Anyway, I'm bringing something S'mores-y and wanted to do something different. My teeny-tiny brain actually chugged out an idea! I haven't made them yet but I'm sure they'll be a snap and I'll post a picture later. I was going to call them Laura's Gourmet S'more's but that sounded a little too arrogant.

Laura's S'more's:

Ingredients:

Chocolate dessert cups (small)

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup butter
2 cups Graham Cracker crumbs

1 Tbsp. whipping cream

1/2 to 1 cup small marshmallows

Marshmallow whipped topping (optional)

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, boil the sugar, whipping cream, and butter for 10 minutes and then remove from heat.
2. Add in graham cracker crumbs mix well to combine. If too crumbly, add 1Tbsp. cream to combine.
3. Let cookie mixture sit in the saucepan until cool enough cool to handle then drop onto greased waxed paper.
4. Start to shape into small balls (make sure to do this while the mixture is still slightly warm or they will be harder to shape AND taking note of the size of the chocolate cup too) around a small marshmallow; sealing well.
5. Chill in the refrigerator.

6. Place chilled balls in chocolate cups.

7. (Optional) Top with a small spoonful of marshmallow whipped topping.

I got the no-bake cookie idea from, again, Recipezaar so I "borrowed again" (thank you KITTENCAL with recipe #76337 ). I saw the chocolate dessert cups in Chesapeake Gourmet (sorry the link is shitty right now) and thought "what could I do with those cute little things?". I hope they turn out alright and will post a success or failure soon.

At least once?

I saw this when trolling around on different food blogger websites. Actually I copied this version from http://iliketocook.blogspot.com/ "who found it over at Very Good Taste - the 100 things that Very Good Taste thinks everyone should eat at least once in their life. Here's what you do:"

1). Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions
2). Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3). Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4). Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras (I'm not so sure, although Thomas Keller is apeshit over it.)
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas (sorry, but yuck)
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
t42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine (what is that? Sounds a little leezy to me)
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis (Oh I don't know...maybe afrer a few beers)
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe (I've had "American-sold" absinthe)
74. Gjetost
75. Roadkill (really?)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum (?)
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Sorry if I'm not really food savvy but eat HORSE? No way pal. Not eating horse. Nor would I eat cat but I've probably had that before, unknowingly (sorry Chinese take out). Now some things I would definately eat more than once like, Eggs Benedict. I'd eat the HELL out of some Eggs Benedict. I need to do that like George Michael needs to get caught "walking in the park" again at three A.M. though.

Speaking of food makes me think of my son. We call him "Hoover" for short. School started Tuesday and now the house is vacant again and there's more food in the fridge now too.

My big guy. Holy shit time has flown. I was talking to a lady at the grocery store the other day (I'll blab to anyone) and she was itching to get off of work to see her grandson after his first day of Kindergarten. What does that do? Set me off on memeory lane and wistful images of my boy starting Kindergarten. So long ago now. Now he's grown and knows everything. I'm not kidding, everything. At least he thinks so.

Perfection: (SHRIMP WITH FETA)

I can NOT ever remember Recipezaar letting me down. It is, hands down, my favorite recipe site. I had a two pound bag of frozen shrimp and needed a solution for dinner. I found this and could literally taste the damn thing before I even cooked it just by reading the recipe! Oh, and my guys.....well, my guys LOVED it! Yay! I love it when I hit one out of the park (seriously I'm not really THAT conceited even though I sound it here). I just get tickled when they really like something that I've made for the first time. So without further ado (and heavily borrowed from Recipezaar) here's a real delicious and easy summer dinner for three (if you're piggy like us) but more than likely for four:

Grilled Shrimp With Feta and Tomatoes (Recipezaar # 180223):

Ingredients:

Vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 lemon, zest of
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salad:
3 lbs large shrimp, peeled, deveined, rinsed and patted dry
1 large lemon, juice and zest of
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 head radicchio (I used an Italian blend bag of lettuce instead)
2 lbs ripe plum tomatoes, cut into 8 pieces each
8 ounces feta cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup mint leaf, coarsely chopped (DON'T SKIP THIS!!!)

Directions:

Prepare vinaigrette:
1. Whisk the vinegar, mustard, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
2. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in the oil until thickened.
3. Set aside.

Prepare shrimp:
1. Toss together the shrimp, lemon zest and juice, olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
2. Let rest for 15 minutes, tossing once.
3. Thread the shrimp on 12 metal skewers.
4. Grill the shrimp over high heat for no more that 2 minutes per side, turning carefully.
5. Remove shrimp to a large bowl.

Prepare salad (final step):
1. If using radicchio: Trim the tough white bottom section off each leaf then add the leaves to the shrimp. *I used spinach which worked REAL well*
2. If using bag lettuce just place into large serving bowl.
3. Add shrimp along with tomatoes, cheese and mint.
4. Toss with vinaigrette.

I made pita chips on the side and this made a great summer meal for the three of us. I've said before Bob and I are big fans of the large one plate meal so this was perfect. I used spinach instead of mixed greens or radicchio (not a fan) and used the full amount of fresh mint that was called for. I INSIST that the mint be used here. What a lovely flavor (and a surprise!). Besides, it gave me great feeling to go out into the garden and use some of the ever-growing mint and harvest my heirloom tomatoes for this. I feel like a complete woman now.....just thinking about it now makes me wish I had a good bottle of wine (ummmm...Bogle Cabernet comes to mind) and a nude beach to eat this on (not with the son of course). I can dream.

Happy days are here again

I haven't done much lately with technology. I didn't turn my computer on for nearly a week. Now that's something. For me. I was out of commission and nothing much was happening for me. Because I am tired of re-hashing my idiocy I will just say that Laura fall down and Laura go boom. Laura busted her ass and she wasn't pretty. Almost ruined the hubby's birthday for which I am embarrassed and mad about.

Since I thought the other picture I took of my ricotta-zucchini cheesecake looked, well, TOO toasty, I snapped another after it cooled and was cut. My guys enjoyed this AND I will make it again. The thing I like about it is it's flexibility. I'm definitely going to put more artichoke in it the next time and will experiment more with the cheese's too.

It's a beautiful windy day here. My chimes are tinkling gently which has lulled me into a pleasant mood. Nice change from last week. As I am prone to doing mid-day, I am contemplating dinner. I went to the grocery store (finally) yesterday and have two things I have no idea why I picked up and bought. All the same, something must've motivated me and now I'm excited about what to do with these items. First, I grabbed tofu. The problem with me is that I read sooooo many great recipes and then certain ingredients stand out. Then I forget which recipes I had been so crazy about but have the ingredient. I KNOW there is something out there to be made with tofu. I just have to remember what it was. Second, I bought a bag of frozen shrimp. They were on sale and "something different" so in the cart they went. My challenge today is to find a grilled shrimp recipe for dinner. I'd prefer to grill since it's so nice outside and the house won't adopt any "seafoody" smells which will RUIN my husband.

I love it when I find a really good recipe so I'll be sure to share what we had this evening. Who knows. Maybe I'll create one all by my little self.

P.S. Oh and I'm eating bread again. It's just too delicious. Screw it.

Seawolf in the summer

Wanted some good music for the summer evening

Life in miniature

Can you believe I finally figured out this morning that if I get the damn tripod out of the closet I may be able to have the camera stand still better when I take a picture. What an ingenious idea! Classic case of procrastination.

I LOVE this mini colander that my sister-in-law, Lisa, gave me. I had these peppers in the garden that were "not thriving", so to speak, and I thought "how CUTE!". My son had to ruin my "artistic time" and question me as to why I had a jar of mustard in the background. Crap, I don't know! Contrast and size. Yea, that's it. Contrast and size. I'm not sure if he bought it. Then I felt like a moron.......

I'm still scratching my head over dinner for tonight. I could have a whole wing of the public library and it STILL wouldn't be able to accommodate all my cookbooks and magazines. The crying shame is that I'm staring at them and nothing is coming out and bonking me on the head for a dinner idea. Dinner through osmosis.

Note: (8-14-08)

I've finally started that wonderful ricotta-zucchini cheesecake. The evening I was going to make it turned into sushi night and I wasn't going to turn that down! Then last evening Bob had to go suddenly out of town and I didn't feel compelled to cook anything. In fact, I hunkered down at Big Owl's and enjoyed happy hour. I did get a purple stain on my boob due to the Cabernet I was drinking but the problem was solved with some soda water which turned the purple to a nice blue that matched my shorts. Problem solved!


I shredded the zucchini which turned out to be approximately two medium-sized zucchini. I salted the shredded zucchini and then wrung it out as best I could. After getting the phone call from the hubby for sushi and drinks, I put the zucchini in a plastic container, covered lightly with lemon juice, and plunked it in the refrigerator.

I chopped up the scallions and garlic and shredded the Parmesan cheese. The garlic and scallion went into the fridge in a zip-lock baggie. In fact I had already mixed the egg and cheese into the ricotta so I just covered the bowl with plastic wrap and plunked that into the fridge as well.

Two days later I started again.....I added my own zing to the recipe and added 1/2 cup sliced artichokes, 1/2 red pepper (from a jar), and 1 Tbsp. fresh chopped oregano. Yum! I can't tell you how good it smelled in the oven!


The finished product. I browned it under the broiler a bit too long but, in this house, I don't think it will matter. It smells outstanding!

I think I'm in love with Heidi Swanson: (ZUCCHINI RICOTTA CHEESECAKE)

I used to have a crush on Angelina Jolie (well I still do) but now I have a new one, Heidi Swanson. In fact, I want to be her. Before I sound slightly John Hinkley-ish, I think that I immediately related to her due to the volumes of cookbooks that I own. There's no way I could possibly cook out of all of them. Besides, some of them are in boxes in the attic and I don't like going up there (anyone seen the scene from The Grudge? Crap why does that always pop in my head as soon as I pull the attic ladder down?). Anyway, I'm stuck in cookbook-land and haven't really branched out like she has done. I enjoy her pictures and I LOVE her recipes. That's what I mean about wanting to be her. Just maybe emulate her talents perhaps.

As I've said before I've been farting around with the first phase of the South Beach diet. I was reading my morning blogs and came across this recipe from Heidi Swanson at 101 Cookbooks. I though ah ha! Perfect. I really think this could be compatible with what I'm eating right now. Now I just have to get the zucchini which shouldn't be a problem here in farm stand-land.

ZUCCHINI RICOTTA CHEESECAKE:

To shred the zucchini use a box grater - most micro planes are too fine, you want shredded zucchini, not mush. Feel free to play around with the "add-in" ingredients - for example, use whatever chopped herbs you like. I had dill on hand, and I like how it tastes with summer squash, so dill it was. I suspect anything from chopped olives, sun-dried tomatoes, or chives, to spices, chopped spinach, or corn could work here. Also, when I have the time and inclination I'll drain the ricotta through cheesecloth to get even more moisture out of the cake, but to be honest, most times I won't bother. Lastly, I use a springform pan here, but you could use an equivalent baking dish or deep tart pan as well.

Ingredients:

2 cups zucchini, unpeeled & grated

1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

2 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

2 shallots, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped

zest of one lemon

2 large eggs, well beaten

1/3 cup goat cheese, crumbled

drizzle of olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325F degrees, racks the middle. Butter/oil a 7-inch springform pan.
In a strainer, toss the shredded zucchini with the salt and let sit for ten minutes. Now aggressively squeeze and press out as much moisture as you can. Set aside.In the meantime, combine the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, shallots, garlic, dill and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Stir in the eggs and continue mixing until well combined. Now stir in the shredded zucchini. Fill the springform pan with the ricotta mixture and place on a baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake for sixty minutes. If there is any moisture left on top of the cake at this point, carefully use a bit of paper towel to dab it off. Now sprinkle with the goat cheese and return to the oven for another 20 -30 minutes or until the goat cheese is melted and the cake barely jiggles in the center (it will set up more as it cools).

At this point, if the cake is baked and set, but the top isn't quite golden, I'll zap it with the broiler (just about a minute) to get a bit more color on top. Remove from the oven and let cool five minutes, then release the cake from its pan. Cool completely, serve at room temperature drizzled with a bit of olive oil and a few sprigs of dill.

Serves 8

The collection of cooking magazines is as enormous as the cookbooks are. I really got to thinking while my pictures downloaded about, perhaps, I need to clean up a bit. Not today though! It's Sunday. Besides it's Birthday bonanza time for the Weeks/Whitten/Luongo clan. Everybody who had preceded us had sex around Thanksgiving and now we're all August babies. It's like Christmas around here. There are literally three birthdays in a row then three more sprinkled in flowing into the first week of September (one more including my step-mom too just to be fair). The gift giving composes, lately, of just having one big bash which includes a crab feast at Daddio and Donna's. This is the only time of the year I usually have crabs (ah hahaha funny I KNOW). So, no cleaning up today. Just eating crabs and figuring out WHERE to put all those prized cookbooks and magazines so that they are not cluttering my kitchen but within reach, just in case.