Cooking with Caprece - Warm Bacon Cheese Spread

The first time I had this recipe was on a visit at Christmas time with Caprece and her still small but ever so sweet family. It was the holiday season and we were all the time whipping up yummy things to snack on while we visited with family and friends. This wonderful one landed on the New Year's Eve Menu - we love snack foods for New Year's Eve fixins. It was comfort food at its finest, warm, bread, cheesy and bacon to boot. How can you go wrong with that combination? We ate it with everything...celery, carrots, crackers, chips, and pieces of warm crusty bread until it was gone...every last warm cheesy bite. Note* This was over several days - it re-heats really well - not all at once :) Although it was yummy enough to do just that.

I have since made it several more times for parties and celebrations and it is always a hit. I love it when something is easy AND DELICIOSO! Que Rico!

(I didn't take pictures when I made it....silly, silly me :) I'll post some the next time I make it.

Warm Bacon Cheese Spread

• 1 round loaf (1 pound) sourdough bread
• 1 pkg. (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1-1/2 cups (12 ounces) sour cream
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese (I use sharp but it is your preference)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 3/4 pound sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled (I am not a fan of cooking bacon - the smell lingers far too long - so I use pre-cooked bacon pieces - you can find them in the salad fixins section of the grocery store)
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions

Assorted Crackers, vegetables, and chips.

Cut the top fourth off the loaf of bread; carefulliy hollow out the bottom, leaving a 1-in. shell.

I cut the bread crosswise like this and then pull each piece out gently. You want to be gentle because you are going to cube the bread to be used for dipping. After I remove the pieces then I just continue to hollow out the bread until I have a 1-in. shell. Cube the removed pieces and place in a ziplock to keep fresh until later. Take the lid (the top of the bread that you sliced and cube it as well so it can be used for dipping).

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese. Add the sour cream, cheddar cheese and Worcestershire sauce until combined; stir in bacon and onions. Spoon into bread shell. Place lid pieces back on the top of the shell. Wrap the shell in a piece of heavy-duty foil or double wrap with regular foil, Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. Serve with crackers, veggies and reserved bread cubes. Yield: 4 cups.

Salmon “Martini”

So my husband is a lover of all – well almost all - things of the sea. I am not. As we were planning our Christmas Eve dinner he kept showing me recipes of sea creatures and pleading for this to be our main dish. Being the wonderful wife that I am I of course said "NO WAY JOSE!". Now, I do enjoy a few sea creatures…shrimp, flounder, salmon and…yep that is about it. Compromise…seafood side dish. I knew when I found this Salmon "Martini" it was just what we were looking for…the perfect compromise. We served it as the opening act to our feast. And it was perrrrfect! A little something for the seafood lover or not so much lover in each of us.

Recipe courtesy of BHG special Edition "Our Best Holiday Menus 2008" p116

• Nonstick cooking spray
  


• 1 4-ounce salmon fillet, ¾ to 1 inch thick
  


• ½ of a medium avocado, pitted, peeled, and sliced
  


• ¼ of a small cucumber, halved, seeded (I used a English cuke to save this step), and cut into spears
  


• ½ cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
  


• ½ cup frisée, escarole or desired lettuce leaves
  


• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  


• 2 teaspoons olive oil
  


• Freshly ground black pepper
  

1. Preheat oven to 450 F. Lightly coat a shallow baking pan with cooking spray. Place salmon in pan. Sprinkle salmon with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
   


2. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Remove from oven; cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove skin from salmon; discard. Break salmon into large chunks. Using a meal spatula, transfer salmon to a plate. Chill for 30 minutes.
   


3. In martini glasses or small bowls, arrange salmon, avocado, cucumber, tomatoes, and frisée. Combine lemon juice and olive oil; drizzle over salmon mixture. Season to taste with pepper. Cover; chill until serving time. Makes 2 servings.

Zucchini & Carrot a Scapece (Antipasti) grazie a Giada

This is the last of the new recipes I tried for our most recent bookclub meeting. Another suprisingly delicious antipasti. I had never had this before but it had the kind of flavors that one bite is just not enough of. This recipe is also from her "Everyday Pasta" book. It is pretty simple as well.

Ingredients:

6 TBS extra-virgin olive oil

5 large zucchini (about 2 pounds), cut in 1/4-inch rounds

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped (I left these out and it was still wonderful)

10 medium carrots (about 1 pound), peeled and cut in 1/4-inch rounds

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Heat 1/3 cup oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add the zucchini and fry until golden, about 2 minutes per side. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fried zucchini to a baking dish. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Sprinkle half of the garlic, basil, and mint leaves over the zucchini.

Add the remaining oil to the frying pan. Add the carrots to the hot oil and saute until golden, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fried carrots to the dish of zucchini. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the remaining garlic, basil, and mint leaves over. Drizzle the vinegar over the vegetable mixture and toss gently to coat. Cool to room temperature. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight. Allow the vegetables to come to room temperature before serving. Transfer the scapece to a platter. Serve with bread, fish or chicken.

RAVIOLI FRITO & ANTIPASTI - Giada De Laurentiis Style

Remember I said for my turn hosting book club I went with an italian theme for the food. It was a surprisingly simple and delicious experience. I just turned to Giada. I speak of her as if she is my friend...actually I feel like she is...her cookbooks are very user friendly for thos

e of us who aren't familiar with italian cuisine beyond spagetti and lasgna. I took all my recipes from her "Everyday Pasta" book. This first one is delicious and appears once platted that it takes great effort but looks are deceiving. It is nothing but easy and even better nothing but yummy! I had every plan to make a homemade marinara sauce but at crunch

time I went with Napa ValleyBistro Homemade-style marinara sauce by Mezzetta. I am so glad I did because it was unbelievably good for a store bought or homemade sauce and was the perfect complement to my ravioli frito. This recipe is a new family favorite.

Ingredients:
Olive oil, for frying
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups Italian-style bread crumbs
1 box store-bought cheese ravioli (about 24 ravioli)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 jar store bought marinara sauce, heated, for dipping
Directions
Pour enough olive oil into a large frying pan to reach a depth of 2 inches. Heat the oil over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 325 degrees F.
While the oil is heating, put the buttermilk and the bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls. Working in batches, dip ravioli in buttermilk to coat completely. Allow the excess buttermilk to drip back into the bowl. Dredge ravioli in the bread crumbs. Place the ravioli on a baking sheet, and continue with the remaining ravioli.
When the oil is hot, fry the ravioli in batches, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fried ravioli to paper towels to drain.
Sprinkle the fried ravioli with Parmesan and serve with a bowl of warmed marinara sauce for dipping.

Pico de gallo

This is one of those must have recipes because it can be served with everything...kind of like the avocado. I put it with eggs for breakfast, chips, tacos (of course), carne asada, and salmon - YUMMY, just to mention a few. You can spice it up to the heat your mouth can handle- me - I like it HOT! HOT! HOT!

The recipe below serves 4.

Pico de gallo mexicano

2 tomatoes or 2 cups of cherry tomatoes chopped

1/2 of a medium onion chopped (we prefer white)

1 1/2 lemon or lime juiced

1 TBS chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 jalapeno or cerrano chile chopped (with or with seeds depending on how hot you like it)

Mix above ingredients and salt to taste.

Avocado Chileno

I honestly believe Avocado can make so very many things taste better. It doesn't hurt that they are super rich in vitamins and nutrients including the "good fat". I have included this recipe with our Taco meal but it can be eaten with sandwiches, chips, toast and cheese for breakfast or whatever your taste buds imagine.

The recipe below serves 2-3.

Avocado Chileno

Avocado

juice of 1 lemon or lime (we prefer the lime though both are yummy)

salt to taste

Slice avocado and place on serving dish. Squeeze lemon juice over and salt to taste. This recipe can be varied by adding very thinly sliced onion before you cover with lemon. You can also add cilantro, tomato and onion together with the avocado for a guacamole salad. Lime is superb with this as well.

Herbed Shrimp with Basil Dipping Sauce

I first tested this recipe on "Nochebuena". The basil and lemon combined with the savory Basil Dipping sauce make this dish light tasting and irresistible. I now make it occasionally as a treat. Rodrigo never got a proper father's day meal because we were on the road so I made up for it last Sunday with his favorites, steak, shrimp, pasta, salad and bread. I've already listed the steak recipe.

recipe compliments of Our Best Holiday Menus 2008 p64 & 66

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of fresh or frozen jumbo shrimp (cooked or raw
• 2 TBS snipped fresh basil
• 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
• Basil dipping sauce (below)
• lemon wedges (optional)
• snipped fresh basil (optional)

1. Thaw shrimp, if frozen. Peel and devein shrimp, removing tails (please note I served it like a cocktail so I didn't remove the tails) If your shrimp is pre-cooked skip to step 3 if raw go to step 2.

2. Rinse shrimp; pat dry with paper towels - ONLY IF RAW.

3. In a large bowl, combine 2 TBS of snipped basil, the lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Add shrimp and toss to coat. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 10 to 30 min. If your shrimp is pre-cooked you are done - you have the option of serving cold like a cocktail or heating the shrimp through and serving along side steak with basil dipping sauce.

4. In a large skilled, cook shrimp, half at a time,in hot oil over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes or until shrimp are opaque (be careful not to overcook shrimp which is very easy to do.), stirring often to cook evenly. Transfer shrimp to serving platter.

5. Again you can serve warm or chill until serving time. Serve with Basil Dipping Sauce and if desired lemon wedges and snipped basil. Makes 8 servings.

Basil Dipping Sauce

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1TBS snipped fresh basil
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 1 tsp Dijon-style mustard
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper.

1. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, basil, garlic, lemon juice, mustard, and cayenne pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve with Herbed shrimp. Makes 1 cup.